Nigeria Publishes 17% of Poll Count as Observers Decry Progress

The Independent Nigerian Electoral Commission published results from just 17% of polling stations, prompting observers to censure the agency for the slow progress.

(Bloomberg) — The Independent Nigerian Electoral Commission published results from just 17% of polling stations, prompting observers to censure the agency for the slow progress.

The INEC’s website showed results from only 30,422 of the 176,846 polling stations, which were supposed transmit the count as soon as they were tallied, as of 10:51 a.m. local time on Sunday. 

The slow progress is another snag in the election process after glitches in a new electronic system that’s being used to verify citizens delayed voting on Saturday in Africa’s biggest democracy. Local media reported residents casting their ballots late into the night as officials either arrived hours late or struggled with the electronic Bimodal Voter Accreditation System.

“The delay in uploading the results undermines public confidence in the results-transmission process,” Yiaga Africa, a nonprofit monitoring the election process, said in a statement on Sunday. “Thus far, the 2023 presidential elections are once again a missed opportunity.”

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