Chairmen of political parties commend INEC over use of BVAS, IREV in elections

A coalition of chairmen of political parties and civil society organisations (CSOs) has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for “strengthening the integrity of the 2023 elections” with technologies. 

In a communique on Monday, the group passed “a vote of confidence” on Yakubu Mahmood, chairman of INEC, for “putting everything on the line to push through with the technological innovations and reforms”.

The communique was signed by Kenneth Udenze, national chairman of Action Alliance (AA); Uchenna Nnadi, national chairman of Action Peoples Party (APP); Isaac Udeh, national chairman of National Rescue Movement (NRM); Dan Nwanyawu, national chairman of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP); Lawal Nalado, national chairman of Accord (A); and Ezenwa Nwagwu, chairman of Partners for Electoral Reforms.

The group said the victory recorded by several political parties in the national assembly election “speaks directly to the integrity and credibility of the poll”.

The coalition said the introduction of the bimodal voters’ accreditation system (BVAS) and the INEC result viewing portal (IREV) “is playing out in the various tribunals to prove the actual outcomes of the elections”.

“The roundtable observed that in the house of representatives, members from minority parties are in the majority in the house, showing a truly representative house as voted by the people,” the communique reads.

“The roundtable agrees that this speaks directly to the integrity and credibility of the election and commended the commission for performing well in this regard.

“The political roundtable reviewed the technological innovations introduced by the commission, including the bimodal voters’ accreditation system (BVAS) and the INEC result viewing Portal (IREV) and commended both innovations as having helped to strengthen the integrity of the elections.

“The political roundtable reviewed the pre-election internal discipline mechanism adopted by INEC which helped reduce internal wrangling within the political parties and the tendency for factionalisation of the political parties.

“The political roundtable reviewed the pre-election processes by the political parties and agreed that political parties and political actors were responsible for a vast majority of the tension and concerns about the election, and INEC conducted itself creditably in this area.

“The political roundtable reviewed the preparations and pre-election logistics deployment by INEC and agreed that the commission was punctual in meeting up and completing all its activity checklist on schedule, including logistics deployment of non-sensitive and sensitive materials.

“The political roundtable reviewed the role of the BVAS and the IREV in the electoral process and commended the roles the deployment of both innovations is playing in the various tribunals to prove the actual outcomes of the elections.”