Ahead of the 2023 general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that the collation of results would be essentially done manually.
The INEC Chairman on Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, noted that despite adopting electronic transmission of results, presiding officers are required by law to record, announce and deliver result sheets along with other materials to the commission.
“Section 60(5) of the Electoral Act makes it mandatory that the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot in a manner prescribed by the commission,” Okoye told Punch.
“Thereafter, the presiding officer shall after recording and announcing the results deliver the same along with election materials under security and accompanied by the candidates or their polling agents, where available to such person as may be prescribed by the commission.
“The implication of this is that the collation process of results is still essentially manual, but the collation officer must collate subject to his verification and confirmation that the number of accredited voters stated on the collated result are correct and consistent with the number of accredited voters recorded and transmitted directly from polling units,” he explained.
Recall that election results at the recent Ekiti and Osun governorship elections were transmitted electronically from polling units across both states.
