An electoral commission, such as Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), faces several problems that reduce its ability to conduct free and fair elections.
1. Political interference by the ruling government. The party in power may influence the appointment, funding or decisions of the commission to favour its own candidates, which weakens the commission’s independence.
2. Lack of logistics such as efficient transport facilities. Poor roads and too few vehicles delay the movement of officials and materials, so voting starts late or does not hold in some areas.
3. Ineffective communication network. Weak telephone and internet coverage in remote areas makes it hard to pass instructions to officials and to transmit results quickly and accurately.
4. Election malpractices in different quarters. Rigging, ballot snatching, vote-buying and falsification of results by politicians and their agents damage the credibility of the elections the commission conducts.
5. Lack of security at polling stations. Thugs and violence at polling stations scare voters and officials away and allow electoral materials to be stolen or destroyed.
6. Inadequate provision of electoral materials. When ballot papers, result sheets or voter’s cards are not enough, some voters cannot vote and elections are postponed or cancelled in the affected areas.
7. Partisan activities of some electoral officers. Officials who secretly support a party may manipulate registration, voting or counting, which makes losing candidates reject the results.
8. Inadequate funding from government. Without enough money, the commission cannot buy materials, pay its staff or train officials on time.
9. Shortage of trained personnel. Too few skilled staff leads to errors in voter registration, polling and the collation of results.
How WAEC asks it: “(a) Define the Electoral Management Body. (b) In what four ways can inadequate funding affect the effective performance of the Electoral Management Body?” (WASSCE (PC) 2016, Government Paper 2, Question 4).
Examiner’s note: Many candidates scored low marks in part (b) because their answers were too brief.