Despite technical troubles experienced by voters during the Anambra State gubernatorial election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has insisted that the final collation results for the election will begin 10 a.m. on Sunday at the state collation centre in Awka.
The resident electoral officer of Anambra state, Nwachukwu Orji stated this in a statement in Awka on Saturday.
INEC had bowed to pressure and extended the voting time after voters were unable to carry out their civic rights in some areas of the state on Saturday.
It extended the time from 2:30 p.m. -3:30 p.m. to accommodate more voters but later said it may allow the voting process to continue on Sunday in areas where voting was delayed.
The statement said the technical glitches experienced by the new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) were largely solved.
“To be sure, these may not have been resolved perfectly everywhere, but the reports we got from our field officers and independent observers convince us that most voters were able to vote with the BVAS, following the extension of voting period to 4.00pm and our regulation that any voter on the queue at that time must be allowed to vote”, he said.
“As I said in my earlier briefing, any Polling Unit where there was a consistent malfunction of the BVAS, and therefore the voters in the Unit were unable to vote, the election will be continued tomorrow. We are yet to receive reports of any location where the sustained malfunction of the BVAS led to no election at all. Still, we shall continue to receive reports through our usual channels, particularly from the collation of the Form EC40G, which is the official document for recording Polling Units where elections did not hold or were cancelled”
“I am glad to announce that the State Collation will commence tomorrow at the State Collation Centre here in our State Office. I invite all those who are entitled to be present – Collation Officers, accredited Polling Agents, observers and the media – to attend the State Collation, which will open at 10am tomorrow morning.”
The Anambra State gubernatorial election held on November 6 with 18 political parties taking part in the process.
