New Telegraph

Stakeholders to INEC: Adopt e-voting for 2023 polls

Some eminent Nigerians have urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to expedite action and engagements for the deployment of electronic voting ahead of the 2023 general elections.

 

A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George and a chieftain of apex Igbo body Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Chekwas Okorie, among others, who spoke in separate interviews with New Telegraph, maintained that adoption of modern techniques, especially the electronic voting system, will improve Nigeria’s electoral process.

 

According, the relevant stakeholders must act with urgency to bring electronic system of voting to fruition. He added that the current ballot system is one of the major banes of Nigeria’s leadership crisis.

 

George, a former Military Administrator of Ondo State, lamented the current manual process of conducting elections, describing it as “archaic in a global village where everything is digitalized’.

 

He said: “Electronic voting is the future because we cannot continue to handle our electoral process manually, it is simply archaic.

 

This is the reason why we have underserved and incapable people in political offices. How can you carry physically by hand results from riverine areas to Abuja at this age and time?

 

“It is like we are living in the Stone Age with the current ballot system process. If you deposit or withdraw money from your account, you get an instant alert to notify of you transaction that took place. Why can’t those be replicated in our electoral process through electronic voting?

 

Why is he still waiting for this National Assembly to take a decision on it? Those are the things that are making Nigeria unstable.” Okorie, a former presidential candidate and founder of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), said electronic voting is the only thing that can save Nigeria’s democracy from its current wobbling state.

 

The former National Chairman of the defunct United Peoples Party (UPP) also disclosed that stakeholders are anticipating that the electronic voting system will be used by INEC to conduct the forthcoming Anambra State governorship election in November.

 

While stating that he has been canvassing for electronic voting process since 2012, he noted that he submitted a memorandum to the previous Eighth National Assembly and has already done the same to the current Ninth Assembly.

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