Issues as INEC considers electronic voting for 2023 polls

Many Nigerians, especially civil society organisations, believe that the country is ripe for electronic voting as part of measures to deepen democracy and good governance.

There have been calls for e-voting over the years, but some concerns, including the fear of cybercrime, lack of electricity and rural development, and hi-wired politics among political players in the country, were listed among factors hampering the process.

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The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, in February said the commission would continue to carry out more pilot tests of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and deploy the device in the forthcoming Ekiti and Osun governorship elections, and ultimately, the 2023 general elections.

He also said the commission had made huge progress in the area of voter accreditation through the deployment of the BVAS.

Yakubu said that in the six by-elections conducted last weekend in four states of the federation, the device performed optimally in rural, suburban and urban areas.

A lawyer and founder of the Afe Babalola University, Chief Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said electronic voting (e-voting) was a comprehensive system of casting, counting and transmission of votes.

He said the process may involve both the process of casting and counting of votes or relate only to the process of counting.

The term, e-voting may also refer to transmission of ballots and votes through telephones, private computers or the internet. However, the Nigerian electoral problems transcend a consideration or implementation of the e-voting system.

Professor Yakubu had in September 2020 said the commission had commenced processes that would lead to replacing the manual voting with automated voting or electronics voting system in the country.

The recent signing of the 2022 Electoral Act by President Muhammadu Buhari was seen as a huge leap for the INEC and Nigerians, especially civil society organisation who led the clamour for the National Assembly to approve electronics voting and transmission of results.

In the current electoral act, some provisions on electronics voting and related matters in section 41. (1) states that the INEC shall provide suitable boxes, electronic voting machines or any other voting device for the conduct of elections.

Also, section 62. (2) states, “The commission shall compile, maintain and update, on a continuous basis, a register of election results to be known as the National Electronic Register of Election Results, which shall be a distinct database or repository of polling unit by polling unit results, including collated results of each election conducted by the commission in the federation, and the register of election results shall be kept in an electronic format by the commission at its national headquarters.

The INEC, in July had an open spar with the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) over the latter’s claim that there was not enough network coverage across the country to warrant the transmission of election results for the 2023 general elections.

The commission wondered why the NCC as a sister organisation which knew since 2018 that the INEC had the capacity to transmit results electronically, would in 2021 say that electronics transmission of results was no longer possible in Nigeria.

Also speaking on the development, the Senate had said that despite the constitutionally guaranteed independence of the INEC, its decision in the provision of section 52 (3) of the electoral act amendment was in the interest of democratic development.

The spokesman of the Senate, Ajibola Basiru, said this during a “Stakeholders’ Reflection Roundtable on Electoral Reform” organised by Yiaga Africa and the European Union (EU) in Abuja.

He said the concern of the INEC on the electoral act was addressed, as section 68 (1) had given the commission the power to review election results declared under duress.

On the electronic transmission of results, Ajibola said the provision of the Senate had constitutional support, and disagrees with the position being canvassed by most Nigerians.

“The commission is to consider the electronic transmission of results, provided the national coverage is adequate and secure by the NCC as approved by the National Assembly. 

“The argument that the INEC is independent, in section 78 of the constitution, stands out. But paragraph 22 of the exclusive legislative list, which is in section four of the constitution, gives the National Assembly the power to make laws, including the power to decide the mode of election. That is why section 52 states that there should be an open secret ballot,” he said.

However, countering the lawmaker, the director of programmes, Yiaga Africa, Ms Cynthia Mbamalu, said the leadership of the National Assembly should rather make things work for the country and the people.

She said that rather than inhibit INEC’s quest and Nigerians’ desire, the lawmakers should work towards ensuring that full automation of electioneering activities is ensured in the country.

The INEC boss, Yakubu, had also said the commission had been working on the deployment of technology in voting during elections to replace the current manual system, which is tedious and requires enormous logistics to deliver huge quantities of printed materials and a large number of ad hoc staff to administer the process.

“To this end, the commission developed the specifications of the functions required of the machine. After extensive discussion and review, the commission took the decision to invite original manufacturers of electronic voting machines around the world for a virtual or practical demonstration,” he said.

He had said during the 2021 budget defence before the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters on November 4, 2020, that the commission would deploy the electronic voting machines very soon, possibly beginning with the Anambra governorship poll scheduled to hold in November this year.

Fear of technology hitches

Some of the fear on hitches of full adoption of e-voting in the country include insecurity, lack of electricity, qualified personnel to man the machines, financial implication, internet fraud and hacking, as well as literacy level, especially in the grassroots.

CSOs react

The executive director of the  Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, commended INEC’s plan, especially that electronic balloting in elections in Nigeria started from the November 2021 governorship election in Anambra State as the pilot election for the innovation.

“The CISLAC commends INEC’s efforts to transition Nigeria’s electoral system to a technological-based system, which is capable of addressing a huge part of the electoral frauds, which elections in Nigeria have been characterised by.

“Although the INEC also rightly noted that full deployment of electronic voting machines, which will include e-transmission of results, would only be implemented when the electoral act is amended, the plan is in line with advocacies for deployment of measures that enhance credibility in our elections,” Rafsanjani said.

Also, the executive director, Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), Dr Ibrahim Zikirullahi, told Daily Trust on Sunday that the country going for full electronic voting was commendable.

According to him, there are several beneficial features of e-balloting, which make it a compelling option.

“In the first place, results can be tabulated faster, and incidents of people voting multiple times will be taken care of. However, in an environment such as ours, with its limited infrastructure, the INEC would have to create sufficient backup plans in deploying this technology.

“These challenges notwithstanding, there can be no disputing the fact that introducing more technology to the electoral process is the way to go, especially considering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Zikirullahi said.