Ekiti election a litmus test for INEC – Reps

The House of Representatives has said the governorship election conducted in Ekiti last Saturday is a litmus test for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the use of technology and other reforms in the 2022 amended Electoral Act.

A statement by the House spokesperson, Benjamin Kalu (APC Abia) on Sunday commended INEC for the conduct of the 2022 gubernatorial election in Ekiti State, saying the election has been adjudged a successful outing according to all metrics by independent domestic and foreign observers.

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The Reps said, “As the first gubernatorial election to be conducted by INEC under the new Electoral Act 2022, the election presented a unique opportunity to assess the operational implications of some provisions of the newly issued INEC guidelines and the Electoral Act 2022, which was recently passed by the National Assembly under the leadership of the Distinguished Senate President, Ahmed Lawan and the Honourable Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.

“According to reports from independent election observers, there was a marked improvement in election logistics management, as well as the deployment of personnel and essential materials such as the Voter Register, Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), voting cubicles and ballot boxes, which resulted in early commencement of voting.

“The House is also pleased with reports that the BVAS functioned properly in 94% of observed polling units, and was promptly fixed in the 6% of polling units where it malfunctioned. This indeed validates the faith that was placed in INEC to deploy election technology to improve our electoral system.”