The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed its dissatisfaction with political parties’ failure to comply with polling and collation agent nomination procedures, in the run up to the September 21 Edo Gubernatorial election.
The electoral body stated that the commission, after consulting with political parties, replaced the manual process for submitting agents list with a digital platform.
The commission explained that it followed the same process for the accreditation of observers and media organizations in consultation with the stakeholders.
At an extraordinary meeting with political parties in Abuja on Thursday, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu explained that the Commission also replaced the manual process of recruiting ad hoc staff with a digital platform called the INECPRES.
According to him, these activities are now done electronically through numerous dedicated portals.
Yakubu stated: “However, after harvesting the details of polling and collation agents uploaded to the portal for the Edo State election, we discovered that there are compliance issues with regards to the quality of uploads, particularly as they relate to the images of Polling Unit, Ward and Local Government agents.
“This problem cuts across all political parties despite the fact that this is not being done for the first time.
“And in keeping with our practice before major elections, we trained officials nominated by political parties. We also set up a Help Desk in the event of any political party needing assistance.
“I want to emphasize that there will be no going back to the manual process. It is gone for good. Already, observer groups and media organizations are in full compliance with the digital procedure.
“Political parties cannot be an exception. You must do the needful instead of constantly complaining of shortfalls in the number of accreditation tags supplied for your agents.
“We will only produce tags for uploads that meet the requirements of our regulations and guidelines. The Commission has determined that your agents at Polling Units and Collation Centers must be identified by name and their photographs clearly printed on their accreditation tags duly authorized by the Commission.
“We have also added a QR Code to each tag for easy authentication and verification of your agents at the polling and collation centers. Matters arising from the recent uploads will be discussed at this meeting.”
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