INEC Rules Out e-Voting System, Says It is Illegal

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has ruled out the use of the electronic voting systems in the 2015 general elections, saying that such move would be unconstitutional.

Prof. Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Commission, said in  Kaduna at a retreat for INEC national commissioners and directors that the clamour for electronic voting was not feasible as the constitution prohibited the exercise.

Jega said: ‘There is a provision that says electronic voting is prohibited. INEC is law-abiding; we will do what the law say.

‘Unless the Electoral Act is amended to accommodate electronic voting, there is no way we can do electronic voting. Even if that provision is changed, we will still have to look and see whether or not it is feasible. So, to be honest with you, it is unlikely that we will do electronic voting in 2015.’

Jega said the commission had not done a perfect job because such a feat is difficult for any human being to achieve.

He said: ‘On the balance, if you compare the good things we have done with the challenges we have faced, there is no reason to doubt that 2015 will be better.

‘We promised that the 2011 elections would be better than previous elections and we delivered on that promise. We promised that there would be continuous improvement, and in all the governorship elections we have had, you can see improvement.

‘There have been unfortunate reversals. Even with those reversals and the way they were made to appear by the media is different from the actual realities of what happened.

‘People talk of Anambra election as if it was totally bad. There were mistakes, and we admit the mistakes. But we have done everything possible to correct them as we move towards 2015’.