The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, on Tuesday, urged Nigerians not to judge the electoral umpire as a result of the challenge the commission experienced in the upload of the presidential election of February 25, 2023.
INEC National Commissioner, Festus Okoye made this known while reacting to the final report on the 2023 general elections submitted by the European Union Election Observation Mission on Monday.
Okoye noted that the glitch experienced in the upload of the presidential election in the country should not write off the entire polls held nationwide.
He explained that the law empowers political parties to know what goes on at the polling units.
He asserted that Nigerians commended the electoral body for the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the general elections, maintaining that nobody had faulted the functionality of the BVAS, in terms of voter accreditation.
The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) stated that the presidential election of the leadership of the INEC leaves the electoral body vulnerable to the perception of partiality.
The group asserted that the 2023 general elections did not ensure a well-run transparent and inclusive democratic process as assured by INEC.
It further explained that public confidence and trust in INEC were severely damaged during the presidential poll and were not restored in state-level elections, leading civil society to call for an independent audit of the entire process.
