New Telegraph

Election results: Hope for electronic transmission

FELIX NWANERI writes on the Senate’s reversal of itself on electronic transmission of election results as proposed by the National Electoral Commission (INEC), which according to stakeholders will boost the confidence of voters in the electoral process as well as make the peoples votes count

 

 

The quest by Nigerians for an improvement on the country’s electoral process could be feasible if the bid by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to adopt the electronic transmission of election results in the 2023 general election given Senate’s recent detour on its earlier position on the issue.

 

Findings over the years had shown that the electorate have always displayed lack of enthusiasm in the electoral process due to the fact that elections in Nigeria are always marred by gross irregularities as well as lack of credibility, and it was against this backdrop that some political stakeholders clamoured for adoption of modern techniques, especially, the electronic voting system to improve the nation’s electoral process.

 

Those in support of the electronic voting system insisted that owing to the several challenges of conducting elections in a country with a population of over 200 million people, out of which are over 84 million registered voters spread across 120,000 polling centres, it was time to jettison the manual voting system that is cumbersome.

 

It was further advanced that given the towering number of political parties, which makes it difficult to source and procure balloting instruments, recruit and train personnel, transport and move men and thousands of tons of election materials across varied and often tough terrains over a relatively short time, electronic voting will provide a more secured and reliable process that will ensure that the peoples’ votes count.

 

Reference was made to the introduction of the Direct Data Capturing Machines (DDC) in Nigeria’s voters’ registration exercise, which has assisted in drastically reducing multiple registrations that is the starting point in election rigging.

 

Despite the belief that the electronic voting system will not only moderate the level of human interaction with the electoral process but diminish malpractices and errors, Section 52 (1) (b) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) outlaws electronic voting in Nigeria.

 

The section states that “the use of the electronic voting machine, for the time being, is prohibited.” However, INEC, which seemed to be disposed to adopting the electronic voting method, has persistently pushed for an amendment to the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act in order to make provision for electronic collation and transmission of election results.

The commission’s chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had during the inauguration of the House of Representatives Special Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of 1999 Constitution in October last year, called for a review of the electoral process, which is manual and too cumbersome.

His words: “The process of collating result is sometimes chaotic because the law says that you must write results manually and collate them manually right from the polling unit to the ward, from the ward to the local government, then the state and from the state to the national level in the case of the presidential election.

 

A lot has been achieved abroad with a simple application of technology. So, the encumbrances to the deployment of technology in the transmission of election results should be removed as part of this process.”

 

While many who share the position of the INEC chairman that deploying biometrics to achieve accuracy will help curb electoral frauds such as multiple  voting and ballot stuffing, which among others, have remained the bane of Nigeria’s electoral process, some stakeholders argued that e-voting would be hard to realise given the high level of illiteracy in the country as well as the deficiency of relevant infrastructural requirements to drive it.

 

Some political analysts even cited an example of the United States, where it has been contended that electronic voting, especially, the Direct- Recording Electronic (DRE) voting system, facilitates electoral fraud. It was based on this premise that they were unanimous that while e-voting has proved effective in other climes, it should only be supported in Nigeria if there is an assurance that the system would not be manipulated by the country’s election managers.

The fears over e-voting as espoused by its antagonists, notwithstanding, members of another political school were of the view that it is the way to go.as it will provide a more secured and reliable system that will makes votes count.

 

The argument of this political is that the electronic nature of the system moderates the level of human interaction with it, thus diminishing its disposition to election malpractices and errors as the fool-proof and adaptable technology can instantaneously give collated results if communication links are provided to all polling units from the local, state to national level.

 

It was further reasoned that because the system is biometric based, there is no possibility of multiple voting and impersonation even as invalid votes as a result of ink smear in the traditional  voting system, which has characterised recent polls would be eliminated, while real-time online view of results of votes cast makes it more transparent.

 

Other listed benefits of electronic voting were elimination of bulk paper work and the possibility of the electorate, casting their ballot from any part of the country for the candidate of their choice, thereby eliminating the risk, cost and stress of traveling from one place to the other to either register or to vote.

 

The most significant of the merits, according to those in support of the system is that it will afford Diaspora Nigerians the opportunity to be part of the electoral process.

 

 

It was against this backdrop that expectation was high in July, when both chambers of the National Assembly – Senate and House of Representatives – considered the report of their respective committees on the amendment of the Electoral Act to allow for electronic transmission of election results from the polling units as requested by the INEC.

 

Despite the envisaged merits of the electronic voting system and what would have marked the beginning of Nigeria’s journey to adoption of technology to enhance its electoral process was dashed as the National Assembly voted against electronic transmission of election results.

 

Law makers elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in both chambers of the National Assembly voted against electronic transmission of election results in the forthcoming general election, while their counterparts of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) voted in favour.

 

The Senate ad hoc committee on constitution review, had in its report, recommended in Section 52(3) that INEC “may transmit results of elections by electronic means where and when practicable” but an APC senator from Niger North, Sabi Abdullahi, moved for an amendment of the clause to read that “INEC may consider electronic collation of results, provided the national network coverage is adjudged to be adequate and secured by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and approved by the National Assembly.”

 

The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, ruled in favour of the amendment after he conducted a voice vote but disagreement ensued and the Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, called for a division, which would require individual voting on the floor.

 

Out of the 88 senators, who were available to vote, 52 of APC extraction voted against the panel’s report, while 28 of PDP extraction voted in favour. Twenty-eight of the senators were absent from plenary.

 

The APC senators hinged their  position on the claim by the NCC that only 43 per cent of the country has network coverage. The PDP senators, on the other hand, said allowing the NCC and the National Assembly to meddle in the affairs of INEC will affect the integrity of election.

The House of Representatives also turned down electronic transmission of election results despite protests by members of PDP extraction who staged a walkout.

 

However, Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, who addressed his colleagues at the end of the exercise, said the House was not against electronic transmission of results but interested in ensuring votes are protected.

His words: “We all want electronic transmission of result, but based on the information from experts, it is not as easy as it sounds. We must get our electoral process right and when the right is right, we can come back and amend the law. We don’t want to disenfranchise anybody.

 

“We have consistently said that every vote must count. It is not about 10 or 20 per cent coverage or even 90 per cent. If one person’s vote is not counted, it will defeat what we have said on this floor that every vote must count.”

 

As expected, condemnation trailed the lawmakers’ rejection of electronic transmission of election results.

 

The national leadership of the PDP, through the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the PDP and indeed majority of Nigerians were shocked over the decision of the Senate rejecting the demand by Nigerians across board for the electronic transmission of election results without conditionalities. The decision, according to him, amounted to undermining Nigeria’s electoral process.

 

He added that action of the APC senators was an “atrocious assault on the sensibilities of Nigerians, who looked up to the Senate for improvement in our electoral process in a manner that would engender free, fair and credible process.”

 

Ologbondiyan described the action of the senators as a direct affront and a defilement of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which clearly conferred operational independence to INEC to conduct elections, free from interferences and regulations from any other agency of government.

 

“The decision of the APC senators amounts to a suspension of the 1999 constitution (as amended) which is a recipe for crisis that could derail our democracy and destabilize our nation,” he said.

 

Similarly, the umbrella body of registered politics in Nigeria, Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), not only berated the federal legislators for their action but urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to sign into law the Electoral Act 2010 amendment, when transmitted to him by the National Assembly.

 

The CNPP Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, said: “Withholding assent will be the only proof that Mr. President is not part of the conspiracy to undermine the country’s electoral process.”

 

A chieftain of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Chekwas Okorie, on his part, described the legislators’ vote against electronic transmission of election results from the polling units as not only shocking but undemocratic.

 

 

His words: “I think that what members of the National Assembly did by rejecting electronic transmission of election results is shocking to many of us. It is unexpected that people, who would have stood for the strengthening of our electoral process, rather chose to oppose what would have addressed electoral malpractices associated with our elections.

 

“We have seen INEC test-run electronic transmission of election results and it worked perfectly. So, what the National Assembly set out to do by subjecting INEC to the supervision of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as well as itself, ridiculed what it stands for because the lawmakers are interested parties as they will be seeking reelection in 2023.

 

“However, there is a breath of comfort because INEC is ready to stand by the provisions of the constitution, which guarantees its independence as any law that is not in line with that is null and void.

 

So, what I expect the National Assembly to do now is to reconsider the toxic clause and expunge it from the Electoral Act.

 

“Also, I expect the that President who has benefited from the use of technology in our electoral process not only to withhold his assent but to weigh in since he enjoys a cordial working relationship with the legislators and get them to pass what will help deepen our democratic process.” The outcry, notwithstanding, the presidency threw its weight behind the National Assembly.

 

The Special Adviser to the President on Political matters, Babafemi Ojudu, who urged Nigerians to consider the issues raised by the lawmakers, said the position arrived could have been as a result of technical considerations.

 

“They said that in some parts of the country, connectivity could be very slow, and if you have to move the results to another area where there is connectivity, something could happen on the way.

 

I think they also raised the issues of hackers; that even in America, with its technological perfection, hackers hacked results in some parts of America during the last election. I think that could have been the consideration for that. I have no personal opinion about that, but that is their decision.”

The rejection by the National Assembly did not deter INEC as it insisted that the use of technology to deepen Nigeria’s electoral process is feasible.

 

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman (Information and Voter Education Committee), Festus Okoye, premised the optimism on the fact that its joint committee made up of telecommunication stakeholders had revised the system and concluded that electronic transmission of results is practicable.

 

Perhaps, it was against the backdrop of the outcry by stakeholders and INEC’s insistence that electronic transmission of election results is feasible that informed Senate’s detour on the issue last week.

 

It would be recalled that the Senate President, Lawan, had instituted a conference committee to harmonise the various reports of both chambers on the issue.

 

The senators during the consideration of what they referred to as recommittal of amended clauses for an act to repeal the Electoral Bill 2021, No. 6, and enact the Electoral Act 2021, last week, adopted the position of the lower chamber.

 

The controversial clause 52(3) was amended to 52(2), which reads: “Subject to section 63 of this bill, voting at an election and transmission of results under this bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Commission (INEC), which may include electronic voting.”

This is against the previous wording of the paragraph, which was changed from: “The Commission may transmit results of elections by electronic means where and when practicable,” to “the Commission may consider electronic transmission provided  the national network coverage is adjudged to be adequate and secure by the Nigerian Communications Commission and approved by the National Assembly.”

 

As expected, it has been commendations for the Senate for reversing itself on electronic transmission of results by most stakeholders.

 

A former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who described the development as a huge victory for the nation’s democracy, said: “I want to specially commend the Senate for setting aside narrow partisan interests to correct the mistake of July 15, 2021, by reversing itself on the issue of electronic transmission of election results.

 

“This clause, though not originally part of the bill, was introduced by the Joint National Assembly Committee on INEC, which I am part of, to save the nation the troubles of ballot box snatching, electoral violence, and manipulations that happen between the polling booths and collation centres. “I must also commend the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Nigerians for standing up for what is right for the nation and our democracy.”

 

A chieftain of the APC and Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, who also praised the Senate, said: “Insertion of electronic transmission of election results in our electoral lexicon laws is a fundamental tonic to banish election collation bandits and hence, the extension of our democratic frontiers.

 

This will lead to one man one vote, and renew our fate in elections, as thuggery and ballot snatching will fade away.”

 

Okechukwu added that the cordial relationship existing between the legislative and executive arms of government is enough indication that President Buhari will assent to the amendment bill providing for electronic transmission of election results as according to him, the president had on several occasions pledged to leave behind a credible electoral system where the votes of the electorate will count. “We are going to harvest the fruit of this cordial bicameral relationship now.

 

That is why one thanked Mr. President along the same line with the legislators, and civil society organisations. I don’t have fears he will sign the bill into law,” he said. Similarly, the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Agbo Major, said: With the electronic transmission of results, each vote will now count and be counted in the overall result. The ballot is sacrosanct; the mandate of the people must be respected. Election is the beauty of democracy.

 

We will keep improving till we get it right as obtainable in advanced democracies.” While the nation awaits the President’s assent, it is believed that the need to revolutionalise the country’s electoral process for its results to be less controvertible will guide him in his choice to sign the amendment bill into law.

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