Determined to strengthen its election management process in the country, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said Thursday that it has approved the introduction of election viewing portal that would enhance transparency of the system.
The Commission in a statement issued by its National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, noted that it is aware that result management has remained a major source of mistrust in the electoral process, adding that citizens are often concerned, and sometimes rightly so, that results may not always be consistent with votes cast.
INEC expressed it’s determination to address voters concerns through enhancing the level of transparency in the conduct of elections, more so in the process of releasing results of elections.
“It is a fundamental principle of democracy that in elections, votes are not only correctly counted, but that they also count. Consistent with its commitment to transparency in election management, the Commission introduced the Form EC60E, which is a poster version of the primary result sheet, the Form EC8A. This replica of the polling unit result is pasted at the Polling Unit after votes are counted, recorded and announced. This poster, now widely known as the “People’s Form EC8A”, has increased transparency in result management. The form enables the citizens to photograph the results and project the outcome of elections, even before the final results are announced. Unfortunately, this has also led to abuses, as unofficial and at times false results are known to have been circulated, particularly via social media, leading to tension and casting aspersions on the final outcome of elections.
“To further strengthen the transparency in the election result management system, the Commission has decided to introduce a dedicated public portal, the INEC RESULT VIEWING (IReV), that will enable Nigerians to view Polling Unit results real time as the voting ends on Election Day.
The Commission however maintained that the election viewing portal, (inecelectronicresult.com) does not constitute electronic collation of results, adding that collation of election results shall remain as provided for by law, a manual process of completion of relevant result sheets and their upwards collation until the final results are determined.
“This innovation will commence from the Nasarawa Central State Constituency bye-election in Nasarawa State scheduled for Saturday 8th August 2020. Thereafter, it will be extended to the Edo and Ondo Governorship elections as well as all subsequent elections.
“The Commission hopes that this innovation would improve the transparency in election result management and therefore further consolidate public confidence in the electoral process.”
