BREAKING: INEC Caused Confusion, Delayed Voting In S/East, S/South, Yiaga Africa Reports
In its preliminary report on Sunday, Yiaga Africa, a civic hub that promotes democratic governance, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of causing confusion in the South East and South-South during Saturday’s presidential and national assembly election.
Describing the presidential elections as another “missed opportunity,” Yiaga Africa also blamed INEC’s logistical shortfall for “unacceptable delays” in the commencement of voting in the regions on Saturday.
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The civic hub made its preliminary observation shortly after INEC declared its national collection center open.
According to Yiaga Africa, “The failure of the IReV system, intended to enhance transparency could potentially impugn the integrity of the elections.”
It added, “The currency crisis created unnecessary challenges for voters, political parties and civil society to engage in the electoral process as well as for INEC to conduct the elections.”
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The collation centre opened at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, where official results of 2023 presidential election and National Assembly elections would be announced from 6:00 PM.
The INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, said the collation of presidential election results will start at the 8,889 wards, then at the 774 local government areas, before the State collation officers for the presidential election (SCOPs) at the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory will submit the votes per candidate in Abuja.
“As we await the arrival of the SCOPs, we will now take a break and resume at 6pm. We are certain that by 6pm, one or two of the SCOPs will arrive with the results. So, we begin the process of collation,” said Yakubu.
