Of the reported incidents of violence against women voters entering or exiting the polling stations that were received, 63% were acts of harassment; the next most frequent type of violence observed was physical violence (25%).
Of the incidents of violence against women that were observed at polling stations, 50% of the perpetrators were recorded as being other than polling officials or members of security forces.
In the observation of the vote counting process, only 3% of observers reported that there had been incidents of violence against women poll workers.
91% of observers reported that they witnessed no violence directed at women who were entering or exiting the polling stations.
As with violence against women candidates, most perpetrators were party supporters.
In most cases, where observers reported incidents of violence, women election officials were primarily targeted by intimidation (37%) and threats (33%).
Most observers reported that they observed or witnessed no attacks on women election officials, with 96% reporting no violence.
86% of TWCP’s observers reported that they had neither witnessed nor heard of any candidate encouraging his/her supporters to commit acts of violence against women.
94% of observers reported that they did not hear of or witness any property destruction targeting women candidates or their supporters.
Perpetrators of violence against women candidates or their supporters were overwhelmingly party supporters, with 75% of reports of violence indicating that party supporters were the perpetrators of incidents.
While few incidents of violence were observed, most violent attacks on women candidates or their supporters were with intimidation (34%) or harassment (30%).
66% of observers reported that they had not heard or witnessed family influence preventing women from participating in rallies or the election; of those that did report it, most received the reports from credible third parties.
Of the incidents of violence at rallies that were reported, observers recorded that perpetrators were most frequently party supporters -- supporters were 73% of the reported perpetrators.
Of the violence at rallies reported by observers, incidents were overwhelmingly forms of psychological violence. 45% of reported incidents were harassment, and 30% were intimidation.
16% of observers reported that they witnessed attacks on women at rallies, while 18% reported that they had heard of such attacks. 67% reported that they had received no reports of violence targeting women at rallies.
The Stop-FIDA hotline received reports of all categories of violence, primarily physical violence and threats and coercion. The reported incidents were evaluated by a response team, to determine what response was needed, and whether the incidents should be referred to another stakeholder, such as the police or a service provider for victim support.
Nigerian elections require voters to be accredited before voting. In Bayelsa, observers deployed by TMG reported slightly more incidents of violence and intimidation against male voters during this process than against female voters.
The forms used by election observers in the Bayelsa state elections included questions for observers about incidents of intimidation, harassment or violence against women. Of the incidents of violence reported by observers, an equal number targeted men and women.
During the national elections, observers deployed by TMG used a critical incident form to provide gender disaggregated data on the incidents of violence they observed. From this data reported, women were 33% of the total victims of reported incidents of election day violence.
Hate speech was an important form of violence that TMG monitored throughout each election. As in Bayelsa, observers stationed in Kogi during the pre-election period reported incidents of both men and women engaging in hate speech.
Overall levels of reported hate speech were small, but during the pre-election observation in Kogi, observers reported that victims of hate speech motivated by their gender, origin, age, religion or physical disabilities were primarily men, with few exceptions.
Hate speech was an important form of violence that TMG monitored throughout each election. In the case of Bayelsa during the pre-election period, observers reported incidents of both men and women engaging in hate speech.
Likewise, in the pre-election phase in Bayelsa, observers reported that victims of hate speech were both men and women, motivated by their gender, origin,age, religion or physical disabilities.
On its pre-election observation forms during the national election, TMG required its observers to indicate whether they had witnessed or heard of hate speech, violence or intimidation against candidates or their supporters because of their gender. 83% of observers did not witness or hear of any gender-based violence, but a small percentage did hear reports of acts of violence through credible sources and a few directly witnessed incidents of violence occurring.
Citizens were also most likely to be the perpetrators in the reported incidents of violence; while men were most likely to perpetrate violence overall, women were also a significant percentage of perpetrators.
