2023 Elections: Court Delivers Strong Ruling On Mode Of Collating, Transmitting Results

2023 Elections: Court Delivers Strong Ruling On Mode Of Collating, Transmitting Results

On Friday, Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that only the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has the legal authority to determine the mode of collating and transmitting election results.

In a decision, Justice Nwite stated that only INEC has the authority to direct how the Polling Unit Presiding Officer transfers election results, including the total number of accredited voters and ballot results.

Justice Nwite also ruled that manually collating and transferring election results in the 2023 general elections does not violate the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

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The ruling was based on a lawsuit filed by the Labour Party against INEC as the sole defendant.

The party had asked the court to rule that INEC has no authority to use a method other than the electronic method specified in the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act of 2022.

It urged the court to issue an order directing INEC to comply with the Electoral Act of 2022 regarding the electronic transmission of general election results.

Justice Nwite ruled on January 23, 2023, that the plaintiff misconstrued the provisions of the law and dismissed the suit.

Justice Nwite also stated that Section 60, subsection 5 of the Electoral Act, 2022 provides for the transfer of election results, including the total number of accredited voters, from the polling unit, and that Section 62 (2) of the same Act provides for the compilation, maintenance, and continuous update of the register of election results as a separate database for all polling unit results as collated in all elections conducted by the commission.

According to Justice Nwite, Section 62(2) requires the electoral body to keep such register of election results in electronic format at its national headquarters.

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