Ekiti Election: INEC Is Ready For Credible, Successful Exercise - Idowu The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has put everything in place to ensure a peaceful, credible and successful election in Ekiti State. The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Kayode Idowu, said this on Friday, during a telephone interview on Channels Televisions breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily. He revealed that the INEC Chairman performed an inspection of all electoral materials earmarked for all the local governments in the state, in order to put the logistics in order towards the election on Saturday. While giving assurances of INECs readiness for the governorship election, he noted that a successful election is not about INEC alone as everybody involved in the process must contribute to the success of the election. He stated that all Permanent Voter Card holders should endeavour to go for accreditation at the polling unit where they collected their card, adding that those who had not collected the PVC do not have any business being at the polling unit on election day. The issue of people not finding their names on the voter register would never happen again, he promised, but noted that this would not include people who are still in possession of the temporary voter card, as they would not be allowed to be part of the exercise. He said that anybody who is interested in voting would have done the needful in line with INECs recommendation, as the collection of the PVC ended on Wednesday. Mr Idowu also reiterated the view that voter education was not INECs responsibility alone, as politicians should educate people about what is expected of them, and so should the civil society. He maintained that having done the distribution of the PVC for 3 months, the commission had shown enough commitment to the Ekiti voters. He disclosed that at least 60% of the Ekiti State PVC had been collected. He, however, said that the Chairman had promised that when the exercise is rounded off the breakdown of the collection would be made available to the political parties. Describing the structure of the election, he explained that the Direct Data Capture machines would not be seen at the election venues as it was used for data capturing during registration alone and also noted that INEC would not be using card readers in the Ekiti and Osun elections, but only in by-elections ahead of 2015. He emphasized the need for voters to be at the same polling unit where they registered at 8AM for accreditation and by 12.30AM they should be back on the queue, ready to perform the voting proper. He expects counting to start around 3PM. Idowu also added that counting of ballot papers would start at the polling units and immediately goes for collation and by this INEC can achieve its target of announcing the election within 48hours. He said that the result in each polling unit would be pasted at the ward level and also made available to the party agents and security agencies. He stated that only at the state level would the returning officer make an announcement. There were questions about the possibility of the voter cards being cloned, Mr Idowu said that given the security features of the cards that have been produced, it would be hard to reproduce it, adding that just like fake currencies, if at all they are reproduced, it would be very easy to identify the fake. The Ekiti State governorship election holds on Saturday, June 21, 2014.
Posted on: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 07:15:30 +0000
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