Yiaga Africa Reports Low Turnout, Late Opening in FCT Area Council Elections

Yiaga Africa has reported generally peaceful conduct of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections but expressed concerns over late commencement of voting, logistical lapses and low voter turnout.

The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, made this known in a news conference on Saturday in Abuja.

He said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted elections for chairmanship positions in the six Area Councils and 62 councillorship seats.

According to him, Yiaga Africa deployed trained and accredited roving observers to monitor activities across polling units in the territory’s 62 wards.

“Observers arrived as early as 7:30 a.m. to assess opening procedures, accreditation, voting and counting processes.”

The civic society organisation said its Watching the Vote (WTV) preliminary assessment was based on real-time reports from observers and focused strictly on process observation, noting that a Parallel Vote Tabulation was not deployed for the election.

According to Yiaga Africa, the elections were largely peaceful, allowing voters who turned out to cast their ballots without widespread disruption.However, turnout was generally low in most polling units visited.

The group identified logistical challenges that affected the timely opening of polling units, particularly in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).

“In areas such as Wuse and Gwarinpa, several polling units reportedly opened well behind schedule, with officials still arranging materials as of 9:00 a.m. Accreditation and voting in many locations began around 10:00 a.m., contrary to electoral guidelines.

“Observers also reported gaps in the deployment of some materials. While key items such as the BVAS machines and voter registers were eventually available in most polling units.

“Instances of delayed provision of voter registers and absence of essential materials like voting cubicles were recorded in a few locations.”

Yiaga Africa further raised concerns over the redistribution of voters to newly created polling units without adequate prior notification.“Although INEC reportedly sent SMS notifications, many voters received the messages on election day, leading to confusion, prolonged searches for polling units and congestion at some centres.

“Such administrative shortcomings could discourage participation and undermine confidence in electoral planning.

“In addition, observers noted that some polling units closed before the official 2:30 p.m. deadline despite guidelines requiring units to remain open until the last voter in the queue had voted.”

Yiaga urged INEC to consider extending voting time in affected areas to prevent disenfranchisement and called for strict adherence to transparency measures.

It added that this should include posting of polling unit results and electronic transmission of result sheets to the INEC Result Viewing portal and collation centres.

The organisation also advised the commission to intensify voter education on polling unit changes through timely public communication and collaboration with stakeholders to minimise confusion in future elections.

Security agencies were urged to maintain professionalism and neutrality, particularly during the collation process, while political parties and supporters were called upon to avoid actions capable of disrupting the electoral process.

“Our observers would continue monitoring ward and Area Council collation centres and the INEC results portal to assess the integrity of the results management process.

“We urge voters, political actors, electoral officials and security agencies to contribute to a peaceful and credible conclusion of the elections.

Itodo reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to providing credible, data-driven information throughout the electoral process.(NAN)