Collation Officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the Kubwa Registration Area Centre have commenced both manual and electronic collation of results, following the conclusion of voting in the Federal Capital Territory Area Council Elections.
The collation process began at 6:15 pm at the LEA Primary School, Kubwa II, where presiding officers (POs) from various polling units converged to submit and verify their results. A majority of the electoral officers were observed entering the results into the official form EC8A.
Our correspondent reports that INEC employed a hybrid method of collation to ensure consistency between the results uploaded to the INEC Results Viewing Portal via the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the figures on the manual EC8A forms.
“All the POs you see already uploaded their results with their BVAS. What they are doing is to collate, using both the manual and the electronic devices, the laptops you see,” an electoral officer at the centre explained.
The hybrid collation approach is part of INEC’s effort to enhance transparency, verify data accuracy, and prevent discrepancies between electronic and manual results ahead of the official announcement of the Area Council election outcomes.
The exercise is ongoing, with security personnel stationed at the collation centre to maintain order and ensure the process proceeds smoothly. Observers from political parties and civil society organizations are also present to monitor the proceedings.
This marks a key step in the FCT elections, reflecting INEC’s continued use of technology alongside traditional methods to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process.
