Anambra Decides: No Eligible Voter Will Be Disenfranchised INEC

In other to make up  glitches witnessed in Anambra governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  extended the period for opening and closing of Poll from 8.30am to 4.00pm.

This revised closing time, according to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Nkwachukwu Orji, applies to areas where Polling Units opened after the commencement period of 8.30 am so that any intending voter who is on the queue by 4.00 pm shall be allowed to vote.

The REC said the extension of time arose out of several field reports that voters have had problems with accreditation adding that the Commission is currently investigating the reason the accreditation devices, Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), have worked perfectly in some Polling Units, but not in others.

He noted that in some cases, the problem resulted from software glitches and the Commission’s technicians have already built an update to the devise software to prevent further challenges. The Commission also reiterated that in cases of sustained malfunction of the BVAS, the Presiding Officer must inform the voters and polling agents that accreditation and voting for the affected Polling Unit shall continue tomorrow or at another time determined by the Commission. With the extension of time and recommencement of accreditation where the BVAS consistently malfunctions, the Commission assured that no voter will be disenfranchised.

He noted that INEC’s deployment has also been adversely affected by transportation challenges in some locations which may be on account of security concerns, some of the transporters that were mobilized and collected 50% of their sign-on fee backed out at the last moment, leaving some of our ad-hoc staff stranded. Dr Orji noted that also, some of the trained ad-hoc staff backed out at the last moment but that the Commission is on top of the challenges promising that extant regulations and guidelines will be applied on a case by case basis. He said. that the Commission is harvesting areas where voting will realistically no longer take place today and places where substantial disruption had occurred, to enable a possible recommencement of voting at another time, in line with extant laws, regulations and guidelines of the Commission.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner appealed to all voters, candidates, stakeholders, communities and political parties to remain calm and law-abiding assuring that the Commission is determined to make all votes count.