By RFIPalled on 02-23-2019Modified on 23-02-2019 at 23:33

Despite the pressures following the postponement and the logistical difficulties faced by the Electoral Commission in recent days, the Nigerians were able to vote on Saturday, February 23, in good conditions for the presidential election and the legislative and senatorial.

Voters, observers and election officials are unanimous on one point: this voting day went rather well . The biometric system set up in 2015 already to identify voters has allowed a certain fluidity.

However, several dysfunctions have been reported in several places: delays in the opening of certain polling stations, the absence of newsletters for the legislative elections in certain centers and outbreaks of violence in Rivers, Lagos and Maiduguri.

" Nigerians proved this Saturday that they were resilient and very patriotic. In all the polling stations we visited, people came to vote, which is very positive, welcomes Samson Itodo, executive director of the NGO Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth & Advancement (Yiaga Africa ), which deployed more than 3,906 observers to strategic polling stations across the country. There was a lot of enthusiasm, especially among young people who were voting for the first time. But what comes up systematically are the logistical problems. The information was compiled: at 10am on Saturday morning, only 41% of the polling stations had opened. It is very unfortunate, despite the postponement of a week, we still had logistical problems, even if the Electoral Commission extended the opening hours of the offices that had opened with delay. "

Counting and compilation

But it must be said that the constraints for this life-size poll were considerable: 72 million voters, nearly 120,000 polling stations to be filled. " The Electoral Commission has managed to meet the logistical challenge ," says Dolapo Adelana, an observer of political life. Rest, concludes the editorialist, to see how the INEC will manage the compilation of results.

" Until then, it proved its reactivity during the vote, but you know, the critical moment of our elections takes place at the time of the compilation of the results, underlines Samson Itodo of the NGO Yiaga Africa. How transparent will this process be? This will determine whether these elections are credible, because we know that the results are often changed during this operation. "

I really want to listen to the collection of results to know what happens to our voices.

Voters very attentive to the counting

23-02-2019 - By Bineta Diagne

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