COALITION OF ACCREDITED ELECTION OBSERVER GROUPS RATES INEC HIGH IN CONDUCT OF MARCH 18 POLLS IN DELTA

Ten observer groups accredited for the 2023 general election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, under the auspices of the Coalition of United Accredited Election Observer Groups, have expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the just concluded Gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections in Delta state.

At a press conference in Asaba on Tuesday, the group’s head of mission to Delta state, Dr Onwubuya Abraham, said the March 18 election was a sharp departure from what obtained on February 25 in the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

He stated that like in other states of the federation, the Governorship and House of Assembly elections held across the 25 local government areas of Delta state and was observed by the group to be peaceful and orderly, except for the few incidents recorded in some some polling units.

Dr Onwubuya expressed delight in INEC’s considerable improvement in logistics arrangement, which led to voting commencing as early as 8:30am in most polling units, adding that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System ( BVAS) machine, functioned optimally in most of the polling centres.

He further stated that election materials arrived early at the polling units, and there was no mix up in the voters’ register, no case of missing sensitive materials, while over 95% of the polling units electronically uploaded their results to INEC’s result viewing portal as required by law.

The group maintained that voting, collation of results from the 25 LGAs and the final collation at the state level, were transparent, just as the electoral process was free, fair and credible in line with the wishes of the people.

On the number of incidents recorded during the election, Dr Onwubuya said they were normal in any democracy, as none could be said to be 100 percent.