The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, says electronic voting will not be used in 2019.
Prof. Yakubu said this in Abuja on Wednesday at the opening of a three-day International Conference of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) in West and Southern African countries in Abuja themed “Opportunities and Challenges in the Use of Technology: Experiences from West and Southern Africa”.
The INEC boss, who is also the President, ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC), however, said that electronics would be deployed in the collation and transmission of elections results.
He said, “The brainstorming was to look at the adoption of technology in all the areas of electoral process and how to provide secure platform for the transmission of election results without hindrance.
“We are to deploy technology within our various legal frameworks within the regions. Election is not just about technology, it is about the confidence of the people in the electoral process.”
He said with the efforts being made to improve the electoral process, elections were going beyond the capacity of electoral commission to manipulate.
Prof. Yakubu, who reiterated his position that the deployment of technology in the conduct of elections has come to stay, added that the essence of the conference was to enable mutually beneficial discussions and strategy and share experience.
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