‘No perfect election in the world’ — EU speaks on Osun poll

Ketil Karlsen, head of the European Union delegation to Nigeria, says the union is keeping its eyes on vote-buying in the Osun state governorship election.

At a press conference in Osogbo on Friday, Karlsen said though no perfect election in the world, vote-buying is as fraudulent as rigging.

Flanked by his counterparts from the United States embassy in Abuja and the United Kingdom, he said the EU wants to see free fair and credible election on Saturday.

Ketil added that the union wants to see the participation of people with disability in the election.

“We are not here to promote any party or candidate. We are here to promote democracy which is the only way to promote stability in Nigeria. What we expect to see here is free, fair and peaceful election,” he said.

“INEC is doing an impressive piece of work. It doesn’t mean everything is perfect. There is no perfect election in the world, but we are here to commend them. We want to keep our eyes on core issues like vote-buying as it was in Ekiti. Vote-buying is as fraudulent as rigging. We hope INEC would curb it.

“Then, the privacy of voters. There should be access to voting by people with disabilities. We want to see the political participation of vulnerable groups. Since 1999, we have spent about one hundred million euros on the electoral process in Nigeria.”