By John Ikani
As Nigeria prepares for the 2023 elections, there has been a remarkable upswing in voter engagement and trust in the electoral system.
Technological advancements in the voting process have been touted as one of the major drivers of this development, with the INEC Election Result Viewer IReV standing out as a prominent example.
Launched by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the IReV platform enables real-time transmission of election results from polling units to the central collation centre.
The platform also offers real-time monitoring of the electoral process, allowing voters and other interested parties to view ongoing election results.
The portal includes pictures of the election results from each polling unit, providing information on the number of votes cast for each candidate and the percentage of total votes cast.
The goal of this platform is to increase transparency in the electoral process and reduce the incidence of vote rigging and manipulation.
Feeder System
The IReV platform works by transmitting the results from the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS), which is also a new technology introduced in 2021.
The BVAS serves as both an accreditation device to verify the validity of a voter’s Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and to certify the validity of the election results, ensuring there are no instances of over-voting. It also doubles as a photography device to capture pictures of the results and upload them to the IReV platform.
The BVAS takes a picture of the results written on a form by the presiding officer at each polling unit, which is then uploaded to the IReV platform and saved as a viewable PDF file.
This file can be accessed from anywhere in the world via the internet.
However, the effectiveness of the IReV platform is dependent on the availability and reliability of internet connectivity in Nigeria.
If the telecommunications network in Nigeria is not reliable, it may affect the transmission of election results and undermine the credibility of the electoral process.
How To Access IReV
• To access the result viewing portal, visit https://www.inecelectionresults.ng/login and simply enter all the required fields and sign in.
• You will then receive a six-character activation code via email, which you will need to copy and paste into the relevant field to activate your account.
• Once logged in, you can view the results console, which includes tabs for the presidential, governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives, state House of Assembly, chairmanship, and councillor elections.
• Simply select the election of your interest and choose the state, local government area, ward, and polling unit to view the uploaded results.
