Nigeria’s 2023 elections are experiencing record-breaking voter participation and high voter confidence. One of the few reasons may include the implementation of technology in the electoral process, such as the INEC Election Result Viewer.
The INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) is a platform created by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Nigeria to provide real-time transmission of election results from polling units to the central collation centre. It was designed to enhance the transparency of the electoral process and reduce the incidence of vote rigging and election manipulation.
The IReV platform allows voters and other interested parties to monitor the electoral process and view the results of ongoing elections in real-time. The portal provides pictures of the election results from each polling unit, including the number of votes cast for each candidate and the percentage of total votes cast.
Here is how you can access the result viewing portal:
- Visit the website of the INEC Result portal; http://inecelectionresults.ng
- Log in if you have used it in past elections. If it’s your first time using the result portal you need to create an account. Click “Create new account.”
- Enter all the required fields and sign in.
- A six-character activation code will be sent to your email address. Go to your email, copy it and paste it into the field that requires it. Then click activate.
- You will be immediately logged in and led to the Result Console. There you will see tabs labelled presidential election, governorship election, senatorial election, House of Representatives election, state House of Assembly election, Chairmanship election and Councillor.
- Click on the election of your interest and you select the state, the LGA, the ward, and the polling unit. It is the polling unit results that are uploaded and they are uploaded as images—pictures of the ECr8 Form where presiding officers write the ballot vote counts.
- You can also have access to results from previous elections like the Ekiti, Osun, and the FCT Area council election
How does it work?
The results you see on the web-based IReV were transmitted from the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS). Both technologies were both introduced in 2021. The BVAS doubles as an accreditation device to verify that the PVC of a present voter is valid and to certify that the results of the election are valid and there are no occurrences of over-voting. It also doubles as a photography device to capture pictures of results and upload them to the IReV.
The results of voting in each polling center are handwritten on a form, and the BVAS takes a picture of the form, which is filled out and signed by the presiding officer at that polling unit. The picture is uploaded to the IReV and saved as a viewable PDF file, and it is accessible via the internet from anywhere in the world.
However, the effectiveness of the IReV platform is dependent on the availability and reliability of the internet network in Nigeria. If you are wondering how Nigeria’s telecommunications network can affect the transmission of election results and possibly undermine the credibility of the electoral process, you might find this article interesting.
