Amidst security concerns in the South-East, a group, Good Circle International Organisation,GCIO, has unveiled its plans to organize a Mock Election ahead of the November 18th, 2017 Anambra gubernatorial election.
The Mock election according to the group will be modelled after expectations in the real election being organized by INEC for the election day.
But an INEC insider said yesterday evening that the commission was not and could not be involved in the mock elections, because it was outside its legal purview.
Other sources feared it was being sponsored by “politicians for a predetermined result to throw up a candidate,” and give “an impression he is the people’s choice,”
But what happens if he loses the main election? Is that not preparing grounds for trouble in a volatile region?” one asked.
However GCIO in its statement by spokesman, Ogechukwu Okeke, said mock ballot papers with Party Logos and candidates will be availed to prospective voters across the State for casting of votes.
The statement reads further:
Speaking in Abuja yesterday, the National Coordinator of GCIO,Mr. Esanerovo Agbodo said that the group’s organization of the mock election is a strategy to ensure that voters are extensively familiar with the electoral and voting process before the real INEC election day. He added that the Anambra election is a test case ahead of the 2019 general elections which the group plans to also hold across Nigeria.
“In a democracy, elections are too important to be treated lightly because the social and economic developments of a country largely depend on the quality of leaders elected into power. The prospective voters need to be familiar with all the processes, the candidates and logos of political parties and understand other requirement for voters as well as get regular updates from INEC.
“A situation where voters are exposed to unforeseen circumstances on Election Day has led to disenfranchisements, nullification of votes casted and even misplaced voting for unintended candidates is not encouraging”, he said.
Political parties and candidates are already enlisting to participate in the Mock elections and modalities and date will be unveiled soon,Mr. Agbodo added.