2023 election results will be collated manually –INEC
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The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared that the collection of results for the 2023 general elections will be done manually despite the adoption of electronic transmission of results.
INEC's national commissioner and chairman of its voter information and education committee, Festus Okoye, stressed that the commission would transmit results from polling stations to its viewing portal of the results, IReV, as evidenced by recent elections, but that the electoral law was clear on how the collation was to be carried out.
Okoye said in an interview with our correspondent on Saturday: "There is a marked difference between the transfer/transmission of results and the collection of results. Section 50(2) of the Elections Act 2022 gives the commission absolute discretion to determine the mode and procedure of voting in an election and the transmission of election results.
“Articles 60 and 62 of the Election Law govern the post-election procedure and the collection of election results. Section 60(1) of the Act provides that the presiding officer shall, after counting the votes in a voting unit, record the votes obtained by each candidate in the form prescribed by the committee.
"Section 60(5) of the Act requires the Presiding Officer to transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot in the manner prescribed by the commission . Subsequently, the presiding officer must, after recording and announcing the results, return them with the electoral material under security and accompanied by the candidates or their electoral agents, if available, to the person designated by the commission.
“This implies that the process of collecting results is still essentially manual, but the collection agent must collect subject to his verification and confirmation that the number of accredited voters indicated on the collected result is correct and consistent with the number of accredited voters registered and transmitted directly from the polling stations."
He explained that although the collation of results would "essentially" be done manually, in the event of a dispute over a collated result or the result of any voting unit, the collation or the returning officer would use the original of the disputed collated result, the BVAS device accreditation data and the results transmitted directly from the voting unit to determine the accuracy of the result.
Please share this story:
The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared that the collection of results for the 2023 general elections will be done manually despite the adoption of electronic transmission of results.
INEC's national commissioner and chairman of its voter information and education committee, Festus Okoye, stressed that the commission would transmit results from polling stations to its viewing portal of the results, IReV, as evidenced by recent elections, but that the electoral law was clear on how the collation was to be carried out.
Okoye said in an interview with our correspondent on Saturday: "There is a marked difference between the transfer/transmission of results and the collection of results. Section 50(2) of the Elections Act 2022 gives the commission absolute discretion to determine the mode and procedure of voting in an election and the transmission of election results.
“Articles 60 and 62 of the Election Law govern the post-election procedure and the collection of election results. Section 60(1) of the Act provides that the presiding officer shall, after counting the votes in a voting unit, record the votes obtained by each candidate in the form prescribed by the committee.
"Section 60(5) of the Act requires the Presiding Officer to transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot in the manner prescribed by the commission . Subsequently, the presiding officer must, after recording and announcing the results, return them with the electoral material under security and accompanied by the candidates or their electoral agents, if available, to the person designated by the commission.
“This implies that the process of collecting results is still essentially manual, but the collection agent must collect subject to his verification and confirmation that the number of accredited voters indicated on the collected result is correct and consistent with the number of accredited voters registered and transmitted directly from the polling stations."
He explained that although the collation of results would "essentially" be done manually, in the event of a dispute over a collated result or the result of any voting unit, the collation or the returning officer would use the original of the disputed collated result, the BVAS device accreditation data and the results transmitted directly from the voting unit to determine the accuracy of the result.
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