Steemit Engagement Challenge S8-W3 | Elections in my Country.
Hello, everyone, it's another beautiful week for me to be here once again taking part in this season 8week3 engagement challenge contests. And this week's theme is “Elections in my Country.”
Election is the process of casting votes by the citizens to choose good leaders who are capable to handle some position in the country in other to meet up with the people's needs.
What do you think about Elections in your country:
While the election in my country Nigeria started in the year 1956 with numerous political parties and the citizens were given the right to vote for their choice and to be voted for. Since then the national assembly has been represented by two chambers which are the house of Representatives and the Senate.
The Senate has about 109 members who are elected to rule for four years and each state has three different senatorial districts each represented by a particular senator. It is only the state capital that is represented by only one senator. While the house of representatives elects about 360 members who can rule for four years.
Nigeria now we have two strong political parties, that are always at the top and they make sure that their candidate is elected during the elections, these parties are PDP(people's democracy party), and APC (All Progressive Congress ) the PDP has controlled the prisetendial position issce the year 1999 to 2015 before the APC took the position from them.
To me, the election is conducted the way it should be and it is handled By the INEC officials who are in charge of the affairs of each election in my country. People come out to vote for their choice but what makes me worried is when the Independent National Electoral Commission officials who control all the affairs of the election announced the results, some are not accurate but because some parties are very powerful they try their best to see that the overtake the position from the right person who is being elected by the people.
What do you think about the electoral system in your country?
As mentioned earlier in my country Nigeria, there are selected group of comity that is responsible to handle all the affairs of the election and they are known as the Independent National Electoral Commission( INEC) This comity make sure that all the pulling unit are set with all the equipment and material which will make the election conducive for the people to come and vote for their candidate.
The electoral always start with the registration where all the political parties who are willing to contest will register their candidate after that they will do the pre-election where all the candidate will be invited to come and present their manifest to the people, convincing the people to vote for them during the election. All the parties go out for their campaign just to insure they win the heart of the people.
How is it done in your country?
On that day people come out to cast their votes using their voter's cards. Each person will be given a ballot paper and on that paper, the list of all the political wills listed there, all the people have to do is use the stamp and vote for their preferred party. and after that, they will put it into the election ballot box. Once everyone has cast their vote then the electoral comity will begin the counting and announce the winner for that polling unit.
Is it transparent and fair?n your country.
Oooh yes, the election in my country is transparent in most of the states and polling units. People come out with their votes cards to vote for their candidate, but after the election, the result in which the INEC official comes out with is questionable because in some polling units, we are sure this party won but when announcing the result everything will change. I don't know how they do it though but I believe some people are behind it just to favor their candidate.
Assume there's no fairness and effectiveness as far as elections are concerned, what solutions can you propose to ensure it's being carried out the right way
In other to enhance free and fair elections, I wish to propose to the electoral body to have a financial set limit of spending while campaigning or contesting for elections. That will reduce the rate of desperation and bribery, anybody caught spending above the agreed amount for election should be disqualified.
I will also propose that the electoral commission official should also be elected not selected or appointed because if the electoral officials are selected, they tend to be answerable to the government body that appoints them. There will be no integrity and the trust in the citizens on them is useless.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are a lot of cases where election petitions are made several times that election results are manipulated and rigged, and the mandate of the poor masses is dragged because of the readiness of the politicians. The only thing I have as a citizen to take part in that is by saying the truth at the expense of anything.
Thank you.
In line with the present confusion in Nigeria on the petition that the just concluded election was rigged and not according to protocols, I strongly agree with your idea that the inec executive should also be elected not selected.
The election in your country Nigeria is transparent but not enough to let the people's mandate prevail.
What do you have to say about the petition of the election result being rigged and manipulated? What do you have to say about the alarming protest of the masses regarding the incompetencies of the electoral commission body? The case is all over the media with no definite conclusion.
I enjoy reading your proposals and you have done justice to the subject... Thank you for sharing and wish you the best of luck dear freind.
Thank you for your valuable comment dear friend.
The election petition is an alarm by the citizens to ensure that the Electoral body has worked in line with the rules governing the electoral processes.
The initial process was that the result of each election in Nigeria will be uploaded at the election point on the portal immediately after the election is concluded.
The election commission neglected that act and just present the hard-copied result. The masses reject the result saying it is not what they voted at thire unit. Once the commission can prove the conformity of the hard-copied result with the one uploaded at the point of the election, the case will be closed.
There is no such drama on that because every hand is on deck to ensure justice and fairness prevail.
Best regards sir.
Sistem pemilu di negara kita hampir sama, di negara kami menjelang pemilu juga ada pemilihan beberapa anggota untuk menyukseskan pemilu agar tidak ada kecurangan
Thank you very much for your comments sir, it's highly anticipated.
You have talked very well about how election is been taking place in Nigeria. Indeed I am not happy with NIGERIA electoral system. I wish you best of luck.
Thank you very much sir, your comment is highly appreciated.
Yeah, this is called the rigging. We also hope for any party and whenever we ask any voter he says: he voted for that party. So we guess for that party to win. But the results announcement changes the whole situation and mostly our minds get rotation.
You have spoken well dear friend. Thank you very much for your nice comments.
Your write up was wonderful,
If only INEC would have a conscience then Nigeria would have had a month and fair election.
If the main body in charge of organizing the elections stands firm on core values and on the democracy we preach then the people would have their mandate.
Like the case of this recent election,how can the people vote and then the president is announced and the people go to the streets to protest, Africa really needs to improve.
My dear, our country need prayers and so all we need is to pray and hope for a better Nigeria.
Thank you for the valuable comments i appreciate.