There are clear indications that there would be no electronic voting in the 2019 general elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has however reiterated that it will make adequate use of technology.
Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this at the 67th World Congress of the International Press Institute (IPI) held in Abuja.
He said: “Turning to the use of technology in elections, we shall continue to deepen its deployment until such a time we can fully automate the entire process.
“There will be no electronic balloting in 2019, but technology is already being used in many aspects of the processes.
“Electronic voting should be the ultimate step in a chain involving five processes of electronic voter registration, accreditation, balloting, collation and transmission of result.
“At present, the commission has a more robust voter register than at a time in our history”.
According to the electoral umpire, accreditation of voters and storage of accreditation data, are also electronic, “while we are piloting the electronic collation and transmission of results.
“What remains is to bring these processes into a voting machine to complete the chain. I am confident that full automation of our electoral processes is only a matter of a short period of time”
While assuring the World Congress that INEC was committed to credible elections, the chairman urged the media, especially international organisations to cover the general elections.
“I have no doubt that the 2019 general elections will be the most widely covered event in Nigeria.
“We believe the forthcoming elections will further underscore the maturity of our electoral democracy after the globally acknowledged success of the 2015 general elections,” he said.
