The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has introduced a dedicated public portal, the INEC Result Viewing (IReV), that will enable Nigerians view Polling Unit results real time as the voting ends on Election Day.
INEC says it will use this public portal for the Nasarawa Central State Constituency bye election in Nasarawa State scheduled for Saturday August 8, 2020, as well as the Edo and Ondo Governorship elections and all subsequent elections, Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, announced in a statement on Thursday.
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Okoye said INEC was aware that result management had remained a major source of mistrust in our electoral process and that the introduction of public port for viewing results was to further strengthen its election management process and enhance transparency of the system.
“INEC is determined to address any source of this concern through enhancing the level of transparency in the conduct of elections, more so in the process of releasing results of elections.
“It is a fundamental principle of democracy that in elections, votes are not only correctly counted, but that they also count. Consistent with its commitment to transparency in election management, the Commission introduced the Form EC60E, which is a poster version of the primary result sheet, the Form EC8A.
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“This replica of the polling unit result is pasted at the Polling Unit after votes are counted, recorded and announced. This poster, now widely known as the “People’s Form EC8A”, has increased transparency in result management.
“The form enables the citizens to photograph the results and project the outcome of elections, even before the final results are announced. Unfortunately, this has also led to abuses, as unofficial and at times false results are known to have been circulated, particularly via social media, leading to tension and casting aspersions on the final outcome of elections.
“To further strengthen the transparency in the election result management system, the Commission has decided to introduce a dedicated public portal, the INEC RESULT VIEWING (IReV), that will enable Nigerians to view Polling Unit results real time as the voting ends on Election Day”, Okoye said.
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He added that this innovation didn’t constitute electronic collation of results. Rather, he said the collation of election results would remain as provided for by law, a manual process of completion of relevant result sheets and their upwards collation until the final results are determined.
“The Commission hopes that this innovation would improve the transparency in election result management and therefore further consolidate public confidence in the electoral process,” Okoye said.
