By Myke Uzendu
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said it will document, collate and share polling-unit election results with the public during the 2027 general elections, while recognising the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) responsibility to make official declarations and announce winners.
The party made the position known in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, on Thursday, in response to recent warnings by INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, against the publication or declaration of privately collated election results.
Amupitan had warned media organisations against declaring privately collated results, stressing that the Electoral Act vests the authority to declare official election results in INEC. He also urged the media to verify election-related information with the commission before publication.
The ADC, however, said its planned collection and publication of results would not amount to usurping INEC’s statutory responsibility to declare official results and winners.
The party maintained that citizens and political parties have the right to collect information from polling units and share such information with the public.
“We are aware of our rights to freedom of expression under the Constitution. We are also aware of the limitations associated with those rights. And we hold that our rights to collate and share election results are not abrogated by any of the limitation clauses,” the party said.
The ADC said its polling agents would document results at polling units, while its party structures would collate the figures before communicating verified results to the public, with the source and status of the figures clearly identified.
“The ADC will share our collated results with the public. Our agents will document results, our structures will collate them, and we will communicate verified figures to the public, clearly identifying their source and status,” the statement added.
The party said its position was not intended to challenge INEC’s authority to conduct the official collation and declaration of election results.
According to the ADC, while INEC has the statutory responsibility to make official declarations and announce winners, that responsibility should not prevent citizens or political parties from collecting and sharing election information.
