• Mulls electronic transmission of elections results
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, proposed a gradual phase out of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in subsequent elections.
Its chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, who disclosed the proposal when he met with the Residential Electoral Commissioners (RECs), explained that it was part of the commission’s 142 recommendations dealing with the general state of preparedness, voter management, voter education and public communication.
“From the internal and external engagements, the commission has identified 142 recommendations dealing with the general state of preparedness, voter management, voter education and public communication, political parties and candidate management, electoral operations and logistics management, election officials and personnel, partnership and collaboration, monitoring and supervision, election technology, voting and result management, election security, electoral offences and the electoral legal framework.
“Out of the 142 recommendations, 86 require administrative action by the commission. It is, therefore, pertinent that we engage first with our RECs because of your frontline role in the implementation of the recommendations.
“This is followed by 48 recommendations that require action by a variety of stakeholders, including security agencies, mobile network operators, statutory bodies, political parties, transport unions, civil society organisations and the media.
“On the legal review, there are eight recommendations that require legislative action by the National Assembly. Very soon, the commission will make a presentation to the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Electoral Matters as they continue to deliberate on electoral reform,” he said.
He added: “Among the major highlights of the commission’s recommendations is the imperative of legal clarity in result management with regard to manual transfer versus the electronic transmission of results.
“The commission also believes that with the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the use of the Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVC) as the sole means of identification for voter accreditation on Election Day should be reviewed.
“Those who already have the PVCs can still use them to vote but going forward, computer-generated slips issued to the voter or even downloaded from the Commission’s website will suffice for voter accreditation.
“This will not only save cost, it will also eliminate the issues around the collection of PVCs and the diabolical practice of buying up the cards from voters in order to disenfranchise them,” he noted.