Election 2023: Results to be transmitted electronically

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has disclosed how election results would be handled in the 2023 general elections.

To counter any rigging plot ahead of the crucial elections, the INEC National Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, revealed that elections would be transmitted electronically, Daily Trust reports. He stated that the electronic transmission of election results would be from the polling unit level, through ward level, LGA, state to the national level for the presidential election. He stated this when a delegation of a media team planning to hold an election debate visited him ahead of the event.

It would be recalled that many Nigerians have been calling for better use of technology in elections in the country to frustrate rigging which has been a serious setback in previous elections. While INEC initially introduced card readers and others things, the main problem has been the transmission of election results since rigging can still take place after voting before the transmission of results.

In a bid to check it, the commission stated that all election results would be transmitted electronically in the 2023 elections. Yakubu also made it known that the electronic transmission of results was tested in Nasarawa bye-election, Ekiti State governorship election and the recent governorship election held in Osun State. One common feature of these elections listed was that they were generally adjudged to be free and fair when compared with some past elections where results were not transmitted electronically.