YET ANOTHER ELECTORAL ACT FIASCO 

Electronic transfer of results will help in restoring confidence of voters

Controversy has continued to trail the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill by the Senate. A critical provision, which the House of Representatives passed in their own version, requires the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) presiding officers to electronically transmit results from each polling unit to the INEC Result Viewing portal (IREV) in real time, after the prescribed Form EC8A had been signed, stamped and counter-signed by candidates’ agents. The Senate version prefers retention of the status quo. This is an old problem. But since the Senate is scheduled to reconvene today, 10th February, on this same issue, we hope that common sense will eventually prevail.

We recall that at his meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) in December 2019, then INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, had argued that the use of technology in results collation and transmission was “long overdue, doable, achievable and inevitable.” That position was reaffirmed by his National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye. “We have uploaded results from very remote areas, even from areas where you have to use human carriers to access,” he said. “So, we have made our own position very clear, that we have the capacity and we have the will to deepen the use of technology in the electoral process.”

Indeed, a reliable technology-enabled system could help minimise disputes over electoral fraud and rigging of results thereby avoiding long-drawn litigation that has hampered democratic choice. The relative success of recent stand-alone gubernatorial elections is credited to the use of technology in transferring election results. The introduction of the IREV has enabled results from polling units to be transmitted to a portal for citizens to view. This has gone a long way in increasing the transparency of the process.

With electronic transmission of results, INEC would not be re-inventing the wheel. It is something that has been tried by the commission, and it worked. It has increased the integrity of the electoral process and encourages acceptability of outcomes. Our banking and telecommunications systems are about the most advanced in the adoption and application of IT solutions on the African continent. The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) rely on automated process for both registration and release of results. The former even conducts its examination electronically throughout the country. This government has also deployed technology for taxation and identity management. Why is it then suddenly ‘impracticable’ to deploy such simple technology just to transfer election results?

Given the political history of the country, electoral reforms will be meaningless if they are not driven by technology that enhances integrity and transparency. Ballot stuffing, manipulation of manually written results, snatching of ballot boxes and compromise of election officials to falsify results have over the years become the norm in our country. And with that, the electoral system has unwittingly transferred the onus of determining outcomes to the judiciary rather than voters.

In advocating the use of electronic transfer of results, we are not saying that it will resolve all the problems associated with elections in Nigeria. But it will help to restore the confidence of voters. We therefore hope that the Senate leadership realises the danger of foisting on the country an electoral act that is not fit for purpose.

All factors considered, we believe the time has come for Nigeria to join the rest of the world in adopting what will help ensure that when Nigerians go to the polls on election days, their votes will be counted. And that those votes will count!