Connect with us

Politics

INEC chairman worried over use of technology to rig elections

Published

on

FCT area council election to hold March 2 alongside gov, state assembly polls- INEC

The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, on Monday in Abuja, expressed worries over the disturbing incidences of election meddling through the deployment of counter-technology by state and non-state actors.

The INEC boss appreciated the fact that technology helps in curbing electoral malpractice and ensuring that more people were allowed to exercise their franchise, but said that there was the need for African countries to properly understand the advantages and challenges of technology in elections in order to protect democracy.

He stated this when he spoke at an event entitled, “Opportunities and challenges in the use of technology in elections: Experiences from West and Southern Africa.”

Yakubu said, “Given the high stakes of conducting elections in developing countries, electoral commissions must understandably be worried about the twin issues of communication and security especially in situations where data reside with and is directly transmitted to the tallying centres through offshore vendors rather than exclusively controlled within national boundaries by election monitoring bodies.

“In addition, we have to contend with the disturbing but rapidly increasing incidence of election meddling through the deployment of counter-technology on a global scale by state and non-state actors.”

According to Yakubu who is also the president of the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions, since technology had come to stay, election management bodies must understand the best way to employ it for the benefit of the people.

READ ALSO: Ripples List: 10 most influential Nigerian politicians ahead of 2019

“Already, election management bodies in our sub-regions and beyond have deployed technology in one way or the other to improve on the processes, administration and outcome of elections.

“These include: training and capacity building for electoral officials, promotion of inclusivity in the electoral process like youths, women, persons with disabilities, internally displaced persons; biometric registration of voters, delineation of electoral constituencies and geo-referencing of existing as well as the creation of new polling units.

“Others include: the establishment of robust electronic databases, accreditation of voters during elections, actual voting and the speedy and more accurate collation and transmission of results,” he added.

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now