Despite apologies, INEC yet to upload half of results

More than two days after the presidential election was conducted, less than half of the results from polling units have been uploaded on the portal set up for electronic transmission.

As of 10pm on Saturday, hours of after voting and counting had ended in many polling stations, results were yet to be uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV).

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on Sunday expressed regret over the delay in uploading the election results, blaming the setback on technical hitches.

It said its technical team was working assiduously to solve all the outstanding problems, adding that users of the IReV would have noticed improvements since Saturday night.

But as of 9:30pm on Tuesday, only 79,927 of the 176,846 results, 45.19 percent of the total, have been uploaded on the IReV.

Voters, political parties, and observers expressed concerns over the inability to view most of the results from polling units on the portal.

The IReV platform, which was introduced by the electoral body in 2020, enables citizens to view copies of election results as compiled and recorded at polling units upon the conclusion of voting.

Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation, said on Sunday that the failure of the IReV system, intended to enhance transparency, undermined public confidence in the process and could potentially impugn the integrity of the elections.

Read also: IReV: INEC takes responsibility for challenges with uploading results

“The delay in uploading the results undermines public confidence in the result transmission process as it deviates from the guidelines for the elections and it fails to meet citizens’ expectations. Thus far, the 2023 presidential elections are once again a missed opportunity,” Hussaini Abdu, chair of Yiaga Africa, said.

On Monday, Ernest Koroma, head of ECOWAS Election Observation Mission, expressed concerns over the delay in uploading the election results by INEC.

“There is a lot of anxiety out there, and you know that the more we delay, the more we give room to speculations, misinformation and disinformation, we are concerned about it,” he said.