The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has introduced a dedicated public election result viewing portal, known as “The INEC Result Viewing (IReV)”.
The commission said IRev would enable Nigerians to view polling unit results in real-time as voting ends on election day.
INEC announced this in a statement on Thursday, issued by Mr. Festus Okoye, National Commissioner, and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, after its meeting held in Abuja.
Okoye said that the commission at the meeting, approved the introduction of a new step to further strengthen its election management process, and enhance the transparency of the system.
He disclosed that the innovation would begin from the Nasarawa Central State Constituency bye-election in Nasarawa State, holding on Saturday.
“To further strengthen the transparency in the election result management system, the commission has decided to introduce a dedicated public portal, IReV that will enable Nigerians to view polling unit results in real-time as the voting ends on election day.
“The commission wishes to emphasise that this does not constitute electronic collation of results.
“The collation of election results shall 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.
“This innovation will begin from the Nasarawa Central state constituency bye-election.
“Thereafter it will be extended to the Edo and Ondo State governorship elections as well as all subsequent elections.
“The commission hopes that this innovation will improve the transparency in election result management and therefore further consolidate public confidence in the electoral process,” he said.
Okoye said that the commission was aware that result management had remained a major source of mistrust in our electoral process.
“Citizens are often concerned, and sometimes rightly so, that results may not always be consistent with votes cast.
“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,” he further said.
Okoye recalled that consistent with its commitment to transparency in election management, the commission introduced the Form EC60E, which was a poster version of the primary result sheet, the Form EC8A.
“This replica of the polling unit result is pasted at the polling units 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, causing tension and casting aspersions on the final outcome of elections,” he said.
He disclosed that for the Nasarawa Central state constituency election, the result sheet could be accessed by visiting https://inecelectionresults.com
“Click on Create a new account? Fill in your details in the form provided and click on Sign in and provide your State of origin and click on Continue”
” Check your email and correctly copy out the activation code which will be entered into the textbox provided on the portal.
” Then click on Activate. This logs you into the portal and you can select the Election which PU results in you are interested in viewing,” he explained.
Okoye, who said that people could use the filter buttons to make the search easier, urged the public to remember to log out of the portal after use.
“The commission appeals to the public to make judicious use of this facility and looks forward to continuing to work with stakeholders to improve the quality of electoral services in our country,” he said.
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Seunmanuel Faleye is a brand and communications strategist. He is a covert writer and an overt creative head. He publishes Apple’s Bite International Magazine.
