117 candidates so that an accurate and comprehensive record could have been compiled and made available to the Investigation before the Hearing Officer to substantiate the allegations that the incidents which were cited by the appellants occurred throughout all or most of the polling places. The response of counsel to the question was that they were not there to monitor the NEC and that they had no obligation to do so; the responsibility for ensuring that such incidents did not occur, he said, was purely within the purview of the NEC. The Court does not dispute that it is the responsibility of the NEC to ensure, even guarantee, that its conduct of the elections would be free, fair and transparent; and that that Body cannot and should not fail to meet that standard, prescribed both by the Constitution and the statutory laws of the nation, so that the credibility of the process is not brought into question. But the Court also believes that the political parties and the candidates have a great role to play in ensuring that their interests are protected and that the NEC does not deviate from its mandate or commit the kinds of acts as are complained of in the instant case. For the parties not to secure their interest by the adequate representation at the many centers, even if it meant collating and combining their efforts, and they fall short of showing that the incidents they complained of occurred throughout the country, and to thereby expect the Court to enter into the realm of speculation, is untenable. We know that the task which we have stated herein for political parties is enormous, but that is the sacrifice expected of them in order to gather the evidence and demonstrate the widespread nature of the irregularities sufficiently convincing to the Court that indeed those incidents did occur throughout the country. The presentation of that quantum of evidence was equally important since out of the nine hundred eight-four (984) candidates for election to the House of Representatives, only a few of them filed complaints against the conduct of the elections or believed that the elections were marred with such irregularities that it permeated the whole nation and the entire election sphere. Even in regard to the presidential and vice presidential candidates, which number more than twenty (20) in each category, only two political parties complained before the NEC involving a total of only two presidential and two vice presidential candidates. This does not in and of itself warrants the conclusion that the elections were free, fair and transparent. What it does mean is that the complaining parties now have a greater