Yiaga urges commission to resolve technological glitches before Ekiti, Osun polls
Lagos State Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, lamented the low turnout of eligible registrants in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), urging various stakeholders to get involved in sensitising the public.
It noted that the turnout of qualified registrants was low when compared with Kano State, which is on the same pedestal with Lagos State, urging critical stakeholders, ranging from religious leaders, civil society organisations and educational institutions to involve in sensitising the public.
SIMILARLY, a group, Yiaga Africa, has implored the electoral body to urgently undertake an audit of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and ensure that all the technological glitches with the devices are resolved ahead of Ekiti and Osun 2022 gubernatorial elections.
Yiaga’s Executive Director, Samson Itodo, who made the call yesterday in Abuja while presenting findings from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) council election, insisted that a comprehensive audit of the BVAS would prevent possible disenfranchisement of voters and inspire public confidence in electoral technologies being deployed by the electoral body for elections.
According to Itodo, the usage of the BVAS was fraught with challenges, ranging from the wrong configuration of BVAS to respective polling units, BVAS failing to accredit voters, delays in RATECHs response to BVAS complaints in some polling units, as well as delays in authenticating voters within processing time.
These challenges, Itodo regretted, delayed the process and caused a major burden on voters who waited patiently to be accredited to vote.
Also speaking, Albino Foundation Founder, Jake Epelle, who noted that INEC ad-hoc officials in some instances gave priority to Persons Living With Disabilities (PLWDs), elderly persons and pregnant women in some of the polling units observed, however regretted that most voting booths were not accessible to some categories of PLWDs.
