The Independent National Electoral Commissioner (INEC) on Saturday said there had been resistance and disruptions to the election process in Anambra state.
The commission also admitted that some of its accreditation devices had malfunctioned while it had been unable to make necessary deployment to certain areas.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Nwachukwu Orji, made the disclosures in a press briefing in Awka, the state capital.
“We are now receiving information on areas where there were resistance to deployment by the commission, where there were disruptions to the election process that already commenced, where we have sustained malfunctioning of the accreditation device, the BIVAS, and where we were unable to deploy as a commission.”
Mr Nwachukwu added that INEC will follow its own guidelines in determining how to collate results on a case-by-case basis
“In each case, the commission’s regulations and guidelines and other existing laws will be used to address these issues,” he said.
“Where elections held, collation of results will proceed, and the applicable EC40G instrument will be used in line with the provision of the electoral law.
“If there are areas where there is a determination that the collation of results cannot take place at the RA collation centres, collation will now take place at the LGA collation centres.”
Meanwhile, the commission had earlier extended voting in till Sunday.
According to the commission, the extension is to enable those who could not vote on Saturday due to the malfunctioning of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BIVAS) machine to do so.
Orji said the closing of voting had been shifted from 2.30 pm to 4. pm on Saturday, after which the exercise will continue on Sunday in units where voting could not hold.
