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SINCE Nigeria's return to civil rule in 1999, elections have remained contentious with political campaigns assuming the character of unbridled warfare. Added to this reality is the trust deficit that so often defines the electoral process, leading to lengthy litigations and the loss of valuable governance time.
The structural deficiencies and limitations of political actors that undermine Nigeria's electoral processes bring a lot of questions to mind. How does the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), political parties, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), media and other stakeholders plan, manage and review elections? How much rigour goes into understanding the figures behind the general stories? Where do these stakeholders get the data with which they make crucial election related decisions and analysis? And what exactly are the implications of planning without data or using data that is neither collected systematically nor reliable?
The planning and conduct of elections by INEC should ideally be informed by the availability of data on a wide range of issues. These issues may include the credentials of registered voters, number and location of polling units and the number of political parties who field candidates. As a means of improving the electoral process, the Commission also needs to access and use election related data collected using proven methodologies like the Quick Count or Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT). Credible election observation data, especially those collected using the Quick Count are also critical for political party preparations ahead of elections. With accurate data, political parties will be able to provide effective answers to the fundamental questions around campaign strategy, election monitoring and other milestones that are crucial for winning elections.
It was in response to the need for accurate and accessible data...