No Electronic Voting in 2019, Says INEC

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it will not introduce electronic voting for the 2019 general election.

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, said it would only deploy technology for purposes of collating and transmitting election results during 2019 poll.

“Let me say categorically that the commission will not be deploying technology for electronic voting in the 2019 elections, but we will deploy the technology for collation and transmission of election result from polling units to INEC result collation base,” he said.

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.

In the communiqué issued by the conference, the electoral bodies within the West and southern African sub-regions agreed to work closely in addressing some of identified challenges facing the smooth conduct of elections.

These challenges include poor infrastructure, high cost of elections, resource limitations and the legal issues surrounding deployment of technologies for election.

The conference also explored the possibility of enlisting the support of private sector entities in funding election expenditure.