REFLECTION : "This is beautiful....thank you. This is one of the strategic ways by which elections are kept sublime and exposed to compromise by not allowing electronic voting which has a better fool proof and data capturing methods to include prevention of multiple votes, quick count / data analysis and many more...so why in about 7 yrs now 2007 to 2013 and going on, INEC has not deemed it necessary to step up in preparing Nigerian electorates for electronic voting ? the funds were made available alright and as you rightly said the data capturing machines used in 2011 we are told has the capability to do more ...how much of its functionality is being utilized to benefit the process for coming election ? how difficult is it to get the electorates ready for electronic voting ? many more unanswered questions and yet over 100 billion naira was released to JEGA / INEC in the last election for which i believe may not have been exhausted for just the pre-2011 elections alone if we are to take into strict account by matching content listings of what the machines were suppose to do as oppose what it did not do or was not used for period. This would also bring me back to the issue of DIASPORA VOTING.....Nothing is done about it and same fate awaits the diaspora on voting right; since its also in the design to STOP the Nigerians in the diaspora from voting in the next election as that alone can also help change the voting pattern or influence voting numbers...Over 4-6 million Nigerians outside the country with at least 80 % of such numbers being of voting age can make a big difference in the next election. This is drill and design........its not happening because ; both electronic voting and diaspora voting are two indicators that would stall the statusquo and bring about better process and possible changes....END QUOTE..... GO FIGURE Helen Wright WROTE..... NIGERIANS can vote electronically today if the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, wants it to work. The other side to the use of electronic voting is the National Assembly, and myriad of politicians who have interests that electronic voting would not support. INEC has enough equipment to ensure electronic voting. The equipment bought for 2007 and more for the 2011 elections all have the capacity to support electronic voting. The registration of voters was done electronically, with all the data captured in modes that make it possible for us to vote electronically. Prof. Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman, last year, said electronic voting would happen soon. Former INEC Chairman Prof. Maurice Iwu, before the 2007 elections, proposed electronic voting. He was dismissed. Low literacy was one of the reasons cited for the rejection. When would Nigerians be literate enough to use electronic voting? Are there no solutions to the literacy barriers? Constitutional hurdles, according to INEC, particularly Section 52 (2) of the Electoral Law, forbid electronic voting. It may not be the main reason. We have seen the National Assembly amend the Constitution as many times as it wanted for the 2011 elections. It approved budgetary allocations with speed. Why would it not make the laws to support electronic voting? The answer lies on the approach to power. Politicians utilise rigging as a strong instrument in their quest for victories. They are afraid electronic voting could create shifts in power, away from their control. Benefits of electronic voting are numerous. It would ensure speed in the collation of results, stop rigging and restore confidence in our elections. Electronic voting, used in Brazil since 1996, has improved elections. From the 1989 presidential elections where the vote count lasted nine days, the 2002 general elections was counted in less than 12 hours. Even in the rural areas, results were ready within minutes of concluding voting. The Electoral Act can be amended to accommodate this important change in our elections. What is the point of having a law that cannot fulfil the mandates it claims it has set out to address? The Electoral Act fails to punish rigging, electronic voting could stop rigging. No proper account of the 2011 elections have been given, especially how the technological advances that cost billions of Naira did not facilitate improvements in the process. INEC can use the time left to resolve the issues with its equipment and promote electronic voting education to deal with the literacy challenge. Management of post-election crises, from perceived rigging, leaves Nigeria with governments that lack credibility. INEC and the National Assembly should re-visit electronic voting, which the National Assembly uses well in conducting its businesses.
Posted on: Sat, 14 Sep 2013 06:18:59 +0000
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