To ensure that Nigerians who have been displaced as a result of crisis and other calamities are not denied the right to exercise their franchise in the 2019 general elections, stakeholders in the electoral process Wednesday validated the framework for voting by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
The stakeholders including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), National Assembly Committees on Elections, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Kingdom Department for International Development (UKAID), International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Security Agencies, among others, validated the framework at a conference in Abuja.
According to the framework, intrastate IDPs shall participate in all election categories where and when applicable, while interstate shall only participate in presidential election in order to limit the challenges associated with political perception and suspicion over transmission of results across state borders as well as constituency boundaries.
The framework, which approved E – collation of results from IDPs camps, specified that results from partially displaced intrastate IDPs will be merged at the Registration Area, level using IDP special result sheets and for interstate IDPs, results merging shall be at the state level for the presidential election while the location of RA and Local Government Area collation centres in affected areas shall be determined by the safety of location.
It stated that collaboration between Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) of affected states with shared IDP populations was required for the synergy of information and electoral resources required for a successful interstate IDP voting, while they should make adequate special arrangements to distribute Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) at IDP camps in consultation with stakeholders.
Under the framework, results sheets for voting at the IDP camps or voting centres will be reconfigured to RA level with a special form EC8, Smart Card Readers to be utilized for IDP voting will be reconfigured to RA level and all polling units in a particular RA are to use one Card Reader for the authentication procedure.
Also, direct communication through the production of specific audio and visual messages such as jingles of 30 – 60 seconds duration, docudrama for radio, short documentaries of between 15 – 30 minutes on thematic areas such as the right to vote and voting procedure, air messages, use of INEC publicity materials, conduct of sensitization fora and voter education in local languages shall be done in IDP camps.
