The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, says there will be no e-voting in 2019.
Speaking at a press conference to mark the end of the three-day international conference on the use of technology for the conduct of elections in Africa, the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Wednesday, said it would only deploy technology for purposes of collating and transmitting election results during 2019 poll.
The INEC chairman who is also the President, ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC), however, said electronics will be deployed in the collation and transmission of elections results.
He said, “The brainstorming was to look at the adoption of technology in all the areas of electoral process and how to provide secure platform for the transmission of election results without hindrance.
“We are to deploy technology within our various legal frameworks within the regions. Election is not just about technology, it is about the confidence of the people in the electoral process.”
Yakubu, who was flanked by officials of election management bodies from Namibia and Belguim, further said one of the outcomes of the conference was a decision by the electoral umpires to work towards eliminating cases of meddlesomeness and interferences due to the deployment of technology during elections.
The Chairperson, Electoral Commission of Namibia, Notemba Tjipuena, who also doubled as the Chairperson, Electoral Forum, SADC, said Namibia was the first country to deploy technology in electoral process in Africa.
“Every country has to go through their own process, no one shoe fits all approach. Every country will have to study and see where and how to deploy technology in its electoral process,” she concluded.
The conference, the first of its kind to be held in Nigeria, was organized by INEC and ECONEC, in collaboration with the Electoral Commissions Forum of the SADC and with technical support from the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES).
The conference was funded by the European Union Support for Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) project, managed by ECES.
