February 23, (THEWILL) – The Independent Electoral Commission has released reports of the 2023 General election. The report emphasises the role of technological advancements, particularly the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), in enhancing electoral integrity and reducing electoral fraud.
Other aspects covered in the report include logistics, security arrangements, staff recruitment and training, inclusivity measures and the electoral framework.
INEC in a statement signed by its National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, explained that advanced technology will address public concerns about the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
The statement however noted that “In keeping with our tradition over the last four electoral cycles and our commitment to transparency, we are pleased to announce the release of the official INEC report on the 2023 General Election.
“This comprehensive 526-page document, structured into 13 chapters and enhanced with 60 tables, 14 boxes and 10 graphs, offers an in-depth analysis of the election’s key processes, achievements and challenges, alongside valuable lessons learned.
“The Report showcases the election’s unparalleled diversity in party representation, demonstrating significant democratic progress.
“This election saw four political parties winning gubernatorial races, seven parties winning senatorial seats, eight in federal constituencies and nine in State legislatures, illustrating a broad shift in political representation across Nigeria.” the statement read.
The report published on its website on Friday, said the conduct of a BVAS functionality mock accreditation exercise on the eve of the election, enabled the Commission to test-run the system ahead of the 2023 General Election.
“It is important to highlight some key pre-2023 general election activities. First, there was the conduct of Off-Cycle, Bye-Elections and Re-run Elections between August 2019 and July 2022, to fill executive and legislative positions in 145 constituencies nationwide.
“Second, there was the challenge, from December 2019 to late 2020, of conducting some of these elections in the context of the global COVID-19 Pandemic that tasked the Commission to develop a policy on conducting elections within the prevailing atmosphere of the pandemic and develop innovations to meet the public safety difficulties in line with advisories by national and global health authorities.
“Third, several other innovations by the Commission in the 2019-2022 period peculiarly made the 2023 General Election unique. It was the first general election to be conducted after the amendment of the Electoral Act 2022. Furthermore, the Presidential and National Assembly election, for the first time in two Electoral Cycles 2010-2015 and 2015-2019, was held on schedule without postponement as a result of logistics or other challenges”, the report read.
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