Ethiopia and Malawi to adopt INEC policies in local elections, says Mahmood Yakubu

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that the Ethiopian and Malawian electoral bodies are considering deploying some aspects of the tool in the INEC’s Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC) in their local elections.

This was disclosed by the INEC chairman while declaring open a retreat to review the operationalisation structure of the Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC), in Keffi, Nasarawa State on Friday August 6.

Yakubu said the EMSC had become a vital tool in the monitoring, implementation and management of Nigeria’s electoral plans and activities.

Part of EMSC’s plan after it was first inaugurated in November 2015, was to build on gains of the last commission (2010-2015) in creating systems for the continuous and effective management of the electoral process.

According to Yakubu, the EMSC which is an electoral early-warning, monitoring, implementation and management tool which relies on field offices and personnel across the 36 states and the FCT, alerts the commission on challenges, identifies electoral risks/threats and provides real-time information on the status of an election.

He said;

“The continuous search for innovative and better systems for the management of our electoral process crystalized into the 2017-2021 Strategic Plan (SP)/Strategic Programme of Action (SPA), the 2019 Election Project Plan (EPP) as well as the EMSC.

“Consequently, the commission has, over the years, continuously expanded the frontiers of electoral management and governance by introducing innovations and knowledge-driven systems. The EMSC is one such innovation.

“The EMSC has greatly helped the commission in managing the electoral process.

“As a testimony to its robustness as an election management tool, many countries in the West African Region and beyond have shown interest in studying and adopting the system for their use.

“The Ethiopian and Malawi Electoral Commissions are already considering the deployment of some aspects of the tool in the management of their elections.

“The EMSC may well be another contribution of INEC (and indeed Nigeria) to election management in the world.”