Time to curb INEC's financial profligacy
Time to curb INEC's financial profligacy Yesterday, November 19, the headline news on ThisDay newspaper was the decision of INEC to print additional 93.5mn ballot papers for the presidential election because according to it (INEC), there is likely to be a re-run. This raises 2 issues, namely: expected voter turn-out and re-run ballot papers. On voter turn-out, why is INEC printing 93.5mn ballot papers? It says it is because there are 93.5mn registered voters in its database. However, according to INEC’s election records, voter turn-out in the 2011, 2015 and 2019 presidential elections was 53.68%, 43.65% and 34.75% respectively which shows consistent decline cycle-over-cycle. Why then does INEC want to print 93.5mn ballot papers for 93.5mn people which is premised on 100% turnout? Based on past trends as seen in the last 3 presidential elections, why not assume a generous 70% probable voter turn-out for the 2023 presidential poll and print 65.45mn ballot papers instead of 93.5mn