Abuja — Almost thirty one months after the 2007 general election, the European Union (EU) , which actively monitored the election has released its final report recommending with great emphasis that the 2006 Electoral Act and the constitution be reviewed to provide more details for voting, collation procedures and counting of votes.

Reaffirming the general view, the final report said: "The 2007 State and Federal elections fell far short of basic international and regional standards for democratic elections. They were marred by very poor organisation, lack of essential transparency, widespread procedural irregularities, substantial evidence of fraud, widespread voter disenfranchisement at different stages of the process, lack of equal conditions for political parties and candidates and numerous incidents of violence."

"The Electoral Act should be amended to provide more detailed provisions for voting, counting and collation procedures. These should include: a requirement for results to be publicly displayed at polling stations immediately after counting has been completed, a requirement for copies of official result forms to be distributed to all involved stakeholders, including political parties, candidates and observers," EU said.

Also, the report recommended a requirement for detailed results broken down to polling station level to be publicly displayed at all superior levels of the election administration, stating that this is a requirement for INEC to swiftly publicly display, including on its website, detailed results of the elections as well as all polling station results and collated information on the number of voters, votes cast, invalid votes among others.

According to the EU report on the 2007 general election, the amendment of the 2006 Electoral Act would ensure requirement for results to be officially announced within a time limit of three days and a requirement for voters, political parties and observers to be able to request a recount of ballots at polling station level when irregularities have been identified; a requirement for INEC to be able to order a recount of ballots at polling station level if it is established that the law was violated.

The EU report want the Constitution to be amended to introduce a transparent, inclusive and accountable system for the nomination and appointment of INEC Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commission, which ensures the confidence of election stakeholders.