The Osun State chapter of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, has criticised the rejection of mandatory electronic transmission of election results.
The party also described the decision as inconsistent with existing electoral technologies already deployed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
In a statement issued by Abosede Busayo Oluwaseun, Chairman of the Directorate of Media and Publicity of the Osun ADC on Thursday, the party said the continued use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, and the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IReV, makes arguments against electronic transmission difficult to justify.
The ADC noted that Nigeria’s electoral process now relies significantly on technology, recalling that BVAS is used for voter accreditation while IReV allows public access to polling unit results.
According to the party, “these tools were introduced to enhance transparency and have been widely acknowledged for improving the credibility of elections across the country.”
The statement argued that citing poor network coverage as grounds for rejecting electronic transmission, while retaining BVAS and IReV, amounted to inconsistency in policy and implementation.
“If Nigeria’s network infrastructure is considered strong enough to accredit voters electronically using BVAS and upload results to IReV, it is untenable to argue that the same infrastructure becomes inadequate for electronic transmission of results,” the statement said.
The ADC stated that technology in elections is designed to minimise human interference and strengthen accountability in the electoral process.
It alleged that resistance to electronic transmission could undermine transparency ahead of future elections in Osun State, including the governorship poll.
The party called on political stakeholders to support reforms that would enhance electoral credibility and urged that INEC be allowed operational independence in deploying technology.
