Stakeholders in the Nigeria Democracy Project, representing various sectors of the society, met for two days at the Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Centre in Abuja from August 25 to 26, 2005 at a "National Conference on: Elections 2007: Defending the People's Mandate" to develop a framework for protecting the sanctity of elections in Nigeria. The Conference was organized by Global Rights: Partners for Justice with support from the UK's Department for International Development (DFID).
Presentations were made by major governmental and non-governmental actors, including His Excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Vice President of Nigeria, who delivered the keynote address. The purpose of the Conference was to debate and analyze submissions made at various zonal workshops on Nigeria's Electoral Geography and agree on a National Roadmap for the defence of the people's mandates in the 2007 Elections and beyond.
Participants at the Conference agreed that elections in Nigeria should appropriately be a multi-stakeholder project in which various tiers and branches of Government, political parties, civil society organizations, faith-based organizations, the media, and other sectors have important roles to play.
Accordingly, participants hereby agree on the following "National Pact for Free and Fair Elections in Nigeria":
The Federal Government should:
… Embark on a comprehensive review of the 1999 Constitution to ensure the autonomy and credibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by addressing issues such as the qualification for membership, appointment and removal of the Chairman and members; secure funding for the Commission, and its accountability to the people. Adequate measures should be taken to ensure that all stakeholders have the opportunity to make inputs into this process.
… Further guarantee the independence of INEC by removing it from the list of Federal Executive Bodies, charging it's funding to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, and clearly excluding membership of a political party as a qualification for appointment to INEC. The composition of the Commission should include representatives of civil society organizations, labour unions, and professional organizations, etc. as well as reflect gender equity.
… Urgently undertake legislative measures, including a comprehensive review of the Electoral Act 2002, to correct inadequacies and shortcomings in the legal framework for the administration of elections. Adequate measures should also be taken to ensure that all stakeholders have the opportunity to make inputs into this process.
… Ensure that perpetrators of electoral crimes are prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of the Law.
… Urgently embark on activities to raise the civic consciousness of voters so that they are empowered and mobilized to defend their votes.
State and Local Governments should:
… Ensure that the composition of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) are broadly representative of stakeholders at the state level, by including among others, representatives of civil society organizations, labour unions, and professional organizations, etc., while also ensuring that the composition reflects gender equity.
… Ensure that perpetrators of electoral crimes are prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of the Law.
… Urgently embark on activities to raise the civic consciousness of voters to empower and mobilize them to defend their votes.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should:
… Ensure that the management and administration of elections are open, transparent and provide opportunities for citizens to scrutinize all aspects of the process, including the appointment of election officials, the distribution of electoral materials and designation of polling stations.
… Build the capacity of its personnel, including by providing adequate training for all categories of officers concerned with election administration, to ensure that they understand the voting procedures and other electoral processes.
… In accordance with the Law, embark in continuous registration of voters across the country and regular review of the Voters' Register. There should also be adequate opportunities for citizens to make claims and objections on the Voters' Register.
… In consultation with political parties and other stakeholders, develop and enforce a Code of Conduct for political parties.
… Endeavour to have a better understanding of Nigeria's electoral geography to enable it to make adequate preparations for different parts of the country to meet the challenges posed by the peculiarities of each area.
… Embark on activities to raise the civic consciousness of voters to empower and mobilize them to defend their votes.
The Judiciary should:
… Restore the integrity of the judicial process by ensuring that the Courts are truly independent of the Executive as well as political and other interests in the resolution of election disputes.
… Understand that its role in the resolution of election disputes is to determine the true winner of an election based on the facts and in accordance with the Law. Accordingly, the Judiciary should not allow technicalities to prevent it from doing substantial justice to the parties and from determining the true winner in an election.
… Adopt procedures which will ensure that election disputes are finally disposed off in a timely fashion.
Political Parties should:
… Undertake measures to strengthen the parties and their structures. These should include ensuring that the party constitutions are widely disseminated among members and that the provisions of the constitutions are respected in all aspects of the party's operations. Party members should participate in the running of the parties. The parties should also ensure they have effective two-way communication between the party leaders and their members.
… Practice internal democracy in all areas of their operations, particularly in the selection of party leaders and the nomination of candidates for elections. The rules guiding the conduct of political party activities should not be altered at will to give unfair advantage to party executives, incumbent public office holders or influential members of the party.
… Establish independent and credible processes for resolving disputes within the parties, including disputes arising from the election of party leaders and nomination of candidates for elections. Such processes should be subject to judicial review, where any party to the dispute is inclined to submit the issue to the courts.
… Conduct civic education for their members. In addition to encouraging their members to vote at elections, such civic education should also be aimed at enlightening them on how to vote, how to conduct themselves during elections, and discouraging illegal or anti-social behaviour.
Law Enforcement and Security Agencies should:
… Ensure that law enforcement agents are properly trained to equip them for the responsibility of providing security during elections in a professional manner.
… There is proper and systematic distribution of law enforcement agents across to country to ensure that all parts of the country are adequately provided for and in areas prone to violence or other electoral crimes, additional provisions are made.
… Ensure that law enforcement agents deployed for election activities are sufficiently educated about their role during elections. They should avoid partisanship and resist attempts to use them to perpetrate electoral fraud.
… Ensure that law enforcement agents deployed for election activities are adequately equipped, especially with transportation and communication facilities, to enable them communicate with one another effectively in situations where reinforcement or additional support is required.
Civil Society Organizations should:
… Continue to serve a watchdog function throughout the electoral process, including by monitoring the processes leading up to the elections as well as Election Day activities to assess whether they are free, fair and transparent.
… Embark on advocacy activities, including campaigning for the enactment and adoption of appropriate electoral laws and instruments to guide the conduct of elections.
… Conduct a comprehensive training programme for law enforcement agents on their role during elections.
… Embark on activities to raise the civic consciousness of voters to empower and mobilize them to defend their votes.
… Play a leadership role in encouraging the establishment of broad-based coalitions devoted to protecting the people's mandate in all states and local governments in the country.
Faith-Based Organisations should
… Live up to their responsibility to educate and enlighten their members on the sacrosanct nature of the franchise and the mandate and commit themselves to playing the role of democracy stakeholders.
… Ensure that the principles of honesty and peaceful relations they preach are extended to the political terrain. Specifically, by sanctioning their members who engage in corrupt or violent practices, they can play a major role in promoting the culture of free and fair elections.
… Commit themselves to devoting their time, energy and resources to the monitoring of all stages of the electoral process.
The Media should:
… Live up to their responsibility to educate and enlighten members of the public about democratic principles and avoid adopting a sensational or divisive approach in their coverage of political issues. They should also actively resist attempts to use them to perpetrate or validate electoral fraud.
… Ensure that the principles of fairness and balance in the coverage of political party campaigns and activities are observed. This should include distinguishing between government activities in which incumbent public office holders feature and election campaigns by such office holders.
… Ensure that political parties and contestants in elections have equitable access to the media during campaigns and elections. In particular, state-owned broadcast media should, as part of their social responsibilities, ensure that a number of slots for campaign broadcasts are given to all the political parties to outline their programmes and candidates for elections as this will ensure that all the parties and candidates have the minimum level of visibility required to genuine elections in a democracy. The absolute dominance of the airwaves by a single political party should be discouraged.
… Commit themselves to giving regular and free air time to voter education programmes to mobilize citizens to vote during elections. In addition, such voter education should cover issues such as the procedures for voting, venue and time of elections, the political parties and candidates running for elections.
Communities and Members of the Public should:
… Build broad-based coalitions for the purpose of resisting electoral fraud and defending their mandate. The coalitions should include community leaders, non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, political parties, women's groups and all other democracy stakeholders. Beyond voting in elections, democracy stakeholders should be vigilant to ensure that the vote is not manipulated.
PACT drawn in Abuja this 26th day of August 2005