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THE FEAR OF EVS

BY ANDY IKE EZEANI

The issue of adoption of the Electronic Voting System (EVS) as planned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2007 election should not ordinarily be a matter for playing politics. But then this is Nigeria, where the selfish interests of a few are often couched as the people’s interest, and individuals who never take any known steps to advance the actual welfare of the people have no qualms equating their political survival with what is best for the society.Clearly, the orchestrated campaign in the media in recent times against the EVS was motivated by calculations other than the need to protect the interest of the ordinary people in the land.

Elections in Nigeria have a history of being susceptible to manipulation by politicians and various interest groups determined to get to power by all means. Dating back to pre-independence and continuing since after independence, the story of elections in the country has been that of one rancourous exercise after another, with losers always contesting the result all the way till the next election.

While there can be substance in the charge that many politicians in our environment are bad losers, the truth remains that in many cases, elections in the country are undermined and rigged. That is to say, many declared losers have cause to feel cheated.

Along the whole stretch of the electoral process in the past; from registration of voters to primary selection of candidates by the political parties for the elections, and from the actual voting to the announcement of result of the polls, elections in the land had been marked at various instances by manipulation and various forms of abuse.

In many instances, the electoral commissions which managed the processes were found helpless and grossly incapable of withstanding the plots and antics of the politicicians.The result of the whole setting was that crookedness and distortion reigned during elections while honest candidates and their parties were left with whatever miserable figures allotted to them in the result. Needless to say that under this unwholesome condition, the electorate emerged the greatest loser. With their will grossly subverted and hijacked by self-serving parties and candidates, the people always found themselves confronted by representatives they did not actually elect.

In over 73 years of conduct of elections in Nigeria, the method of executing the exercise has remained virtually constant. All through these years, the perception and usual cynical reaction of the people towards election results have also been the same. Lack of trust in the system and dispute over results remain the main features of elections in Nigeria.

The return of democracy in the land in 1999 after a long spell of military rule did not change much.Infact the gap between what the people usually believe about elections and what election results bring out remained wide with the 1999 and 2003 elections. There were declared winners quite alright, but many went about swearing that the victors were no winners. The disputations are yet to end.

With the coming a new leadership at the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) after the 2003 election, the electoral body moved to change and improve on the method of managing the electoral process in the land. Led by the renowned scientist and former national deputy president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof.Maurice Iwu, INEC turned to technology as one sure way through which it can achieve the desired improvement in the administration of the electoral process. It expected also through the use of the technology to minimize human errors and thereby achieve better profile of an unbiased umpire for itself. The Electronic Voting System (EVS) which the commission plans to adopt is a composite system that seeks to tackle the undermining of the will of the people from multiple points.

In its chain features, the EVS is designed to minimize cheating and rigging. Right from the registration of voters and authentication of those who come forward to vote to ensure that they are not impostors, to the actual voting method and then to the transmission of the polls result, the EVS is made to truly promote one man, one vote and then ensure that the actual people who registered to vote really vote. In terms of releasing election result, the system will ensure that instead of waiting for election results for two or three or even seven days as has been known to happen, the results are available almost immediately the polls are closed.

Everything about the EVS spells transparency. This obviously is the fact many politicians around do not like one bit.Unfortuntely, in an environment where it is easy to hoodwink others and where many are either easily bought over or swayed by sentiment, those who have personal cause to be scared of the EVS have got many innocent citizens to feel that the EVS is not in their interest.

The convoluted charges thrown up against the EVS actually illuminate the less than objected motive of those who have been campaigning against the proposed system. It is interesting that for once, various politicians across party differences, individuals who will not agree on any issue of national importance find themselves singing a common chorus of “EVS is not good for us.” How it is not good for them is what many ordinary people have not cared to explore.

The campaign against EVS has been coming up with changing pitches.First, the accusation was that the system will be dependent on electricity supply and since we all know how terrible power supply in the land is, the system cannot work. It turns out as INEC explains that the system has nothing really to do with power supply and the state of the electricity supplying company. Even as some members of the anti-EVS party moved away from that very pitch to cook up other charges, some have refused to hear the explanation. That is how till today some, even in such high quarters as the Senate, can still be found contending that one case against EVS is that electricity supply is poor in Nigeria.

Then there was another baseless charge that ship loads of electronic voting machines from India were already at Nigerian ports at one time waiting to be offloaded even as debate was still going on about adopting the system. Of course, there was no ship from India or any where carrying any such load. There could not have been, for till this very moment, INEC has not contracted any vendor for the supply of the electronic voting machine.

Next came the usual Nigerian play to parochial sentiment. It was alleged that the EVS will put illiterate citizens to a disadvantage, infact disenfranchise them. The majority of these illiterate citizens were said to be in the north of the country. So the EVS would count against the north. It turns out that the EVM will be easier for an illiterate to use than the paper ballot. The voting method requires nobody to write anything. If a voter has eyes and can see a ballot paper, then he can see the voting board of an EVM, which is bigger. Pressing a thumb on the board is easier than pressing on a ballot paper. And then, as Prof.Iwu will contend, an illiterate is an illiterate whether in the north or east or west. The question of sectional advantage or disadvantage does not therefore arise.

The latest charge is that the EVS is designed to favour the ruling party. It can be programmed to give the ruling party (PDP) millions of votes above other contending parties.Really? If only those who throw up these baseless charges listen to themselves in an objective location.

In 2003, when the victory of the same ruling party was scoffed at by the usual tribe of critics as having been achieved through manipulation, was it the EVS that was deployed? In 1984 when the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) posted a landslide victory that remains derisively pointed out by many as not real, was it EVS that was in use? If it was not, and if the past election results were disputed all the way, what do we make of a case that EVM will promote election rigging?

Then again, interstingly, if the EVM will be programmed to return PDP results all the way, how come various politicians in that ruling party are shouting themselves hoarse with others in some other parties opposing the adoption of EVS? Could the truth be that the EVS is a potent threat to politicians who used to “win” in the past through less than transparent means? It does seem that the fear of EVS and what it will do to less than grounded politicians has become a uniting force for many across party lines.

Now, the Senate may have removed the EVS from the long delayed electoral bill, but the truth is that the issue of administration of elections in the land is completely within the purview of the electoral commission. It is not so much of a constitutional issue. This is not to say that INEC will not pay attention to any view expressed by the Senate or any other group of Nigerians on any crucial issue. At the appropriate time, the Commission will choose the way to go.

Even at that the politicians who are jumping up, thinking that the old game is still on are wrong. Even if INEC decides to drop the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), the other aspects of the EVS; the electronic voters register, the authentication of voters (to ensure that the actual person who registers votes) and the electronic transmission of election result to ensure credibility, are already here to stay. Those planning to go for many voters card that will be handed over to thugs for use on Election Day have no cause to rejoice. That plan will not work, EVM or no EVM.