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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) approved manual accreditation of voters due to the large scale failure of Smart Card Readers (SCRs) to function effectively in many parts of the country in yesterday’s elections.
INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education Committee, Dr. Chris Eyimoga, told a world press conference, yesterday, that the decision to amend the electoral guidelines at such a short notice was due to the large scale.
“INEC has been monitoring field reports since the commencement of the election this morning. While the exercise has gone well in several places, in many others it has encountered some challenges especially with the use of the card readers; consequently accreditation has been slow in many places and has not commenced in others,”Eyimoga said.
“Even though the guidelines for the conduct of the 2015 general elections provide that where card readers fail to work and cannot be replaced, elections in such polling units will be postponed till the following day, the scale of the challenge we have observed today has necessitated a reconsideration of this provision of the guidelines.
“The commission has therefore decided as part of the guidelines for the conduct of the 2015 general elections that in polling units where card readers have so failed to work, the presiding officer shall manually accredit voters by marking the register of voters, upon being satisfied that the person presenting the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) is the legitimate holder of the card.”
Iyimoga revealed that INEC will thoroughly investigate what happened, even as he promised the commission will deliver free, fair and credible elections despite the the challenges.
According to the national commissioner, the problem of late distribution of materials in Abuja and some other places was due to the problems which he said INEC had with the members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
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