Technocrat Media
Adele Jinadu, a don and Chair of the Election Analysis Centre (CDD-EAC) of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) says data from election observation in the ongoing Ekiti governorship election showed that 86 per cent of the National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials arrived at their polling units by 8:30 am.
He made this known in the CDD’s preliminary statement on the state of the ongoing governorship election, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The don said CDD had been closely observing the election after it had deployed 205 trained and INEC accredited observers to the election field for data collection.
According to him, the objective of the organisation is to ascertain if the election is free, fair, credible, and reflects the supremacy of the vote of the Ekiti electorates.
He added that the CDD-EAC also set up a fake news hub aimed at tracking and fact-checking misinformation and disinformation capable of undermining the credibility of the election.
He said that, “Reports from CDD field observers indicate that the general atmosphere in which the election is being conducted has been peaceful.
”Voting has largely proceeded smoothly without any reported incidents of violence or disruption of the process.
“The Electronic Observer Platform further showed that 74 per cent of INEC poll officials addressed voters before the 8:30am official time of poll opening.
“CDD-EAC observers also reported a significant increase in the number of female INEC officials, with the data showing that eight polling units had poll officials who were exclusively female.”
Prof Jinadu said that the CDD-EAC data further showed that while four polling units had no female at all; all the others had both male and female INEC officials present.
He said that CDD-EAC data indicated that in at least 83 per cent of polling units; critical election materials like ballot papers, BVAS devices, results sheets, ballot boxes and the voter register were available.
He said that in most of the polling units, CDD-EAC observers did not see or report any form of campaigning; however, in 11.3 per cent of polling units campaigns and display of campaign materials were reported.
He said that the data showed that all polling units reported the presence of at least one party agent. However in Polling Unit 003, Ward 06 in Ekiti West LGA, only one party had an agent.
The don said that CDD-EAC data showed that in all 168 Polling Units, BVAS was available; however in polling unit 010 Ward 10, in Irepodun Ifelodun LGA, there was no BVAS at the time when the poll was expected to commence.
He added that the CDD-EAC Fake News Hub tracked and fact-checked a number of fake news and misinformation trends on election day.
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