The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured the public that it had the capacity to transmit election results in real time or electronically.
The INEC’s Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, said INEC had achieved electronic transmission of election results from polling units in remote areas in the past.
He made this known on Saturday, while speaking in an interview with Channels TV.
Okoye recalled that in 2020, the commission transmitted election results electronically from different geopolitical zones.
He, however, said the commission operates within the confines of the established laws and constitution.
“We have uploaded results of 22 elections, including state assemblies, house of representatives elections, senatorial elections and governorship elections into our central portal where the public had an opportunity of viewing them,” he said.
He added, “We have uploaded results from very remote areas, even from areas where you have to use human carriers to access.
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“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.
“But our powers are given by the constitution and the law, and we will continue to remain within the ambit and confines of the power granted to the commission by the constitution and the law.”
He said INEC is “irrevocably committed to using technology in the electoral process.”
The NCC Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Ubale Ahmed Maska, had during a plenary at the House of Representatives on Friday said the 3G network required for electronic transmission of election results was not available in all polling units.
According to him, electoral coverage conducted in 2018 by the commission, showed that about 50 percent of the polling units had 3G and 2G network services.
Maska stated that 49 percent had 2G network and below, insisting that election results can only be transmitted in areas that have 3G network.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives passed the Electoral Amendment Bill, shortly after opposition lawmakers walked out of the heated session on electronic transmission of election results on Friday.
The House of Reps passed the majority of the 158 clauses of the bill intact, including Clause 52 (2), which spoke about the mode of voting/transmission of election results.
The clause says that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shall determine the mode of voting/transmission of election results.
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