Ben Llewellyn-Jones, the British deputy high commissioner to
Nigeria, says the bimodal voting accreditation system (BVAS) reduced
over-voting in the recently concluded elections.
In an interview with Nigeria Info FM on Sunday, the United
Kingdom envoy said there were huge improvements in the election as compared to
other polls in previous years.
He hailed the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) for promptly uploading results to the election result viewing portal
during the governorship polls.
“Every election must be looked at in terms of the time
perspective. From 1999 to 2023, there are huge improvements. The BVAS
technology did reduce the amount of over-voting considerably. There was
improvement even in the three weeks between the presidential and gubernatorial.
And INEC performance, the IRev upload worked much more quickly dramatically
than it had, which is good to see,” Llewellyn-Jones said.
“We had a competition
in a way that perhaps we have never seen before, the three party candidates
during the presidential and more than three candidates in the gubernatorial
elections, outside the three big parties.”
‘CHANGE TAKES YEARS’
The deputy high commissioner applauded the high percentage
of new voters, saying it was a sign that citizens were interested in the
electoral process and wanted to truly choose leaders for themselves.
He, however, asked the new voters not to be deterred by the
outcome of the elections, adding that it takes time and patience to achieve
results.
“And the first-time voters this time, some of you may have
been disappointed, we understand that. Reflect on the importance of engaging
not just in the election but in the period up to the election. I voted for the
first time many years ago and my party lost but I still vote because it
matters,” he said.
“I know that people will say our expectations were high, we
want more now. I understand that, I want more now for democracy in Nigeria too.
That comes with building from not just from this but before this. You know the
efforts that was put in and the efforts they continue to put in. The legal
challenges that will come which the UK will also be watching extremely closely.
It is very important that, that is done transparently.
“Democracy is a journey, we have had an experience of
democracy in the UK for a lot longer and some of these issues are never going
to arise in the UK as they do in Nigeria. But in Nigeria the progress is so
much quick. It has been 24 years, from 1999 to 2023.
“What’s happened in
Nigeria, in terms of the kind of people who are now able to vote, the fact that
you have parliamentary democracy, it took hundreds and hundreds of years for
the UK to get to that point.”
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