Election Collation and Declaration of Results in Nigeria General Elections

May 14, 2020 Vera

Election Collation and Declaration of Results in Nigeria General Election, This article is to educate our readers on basic about Collation and Declaration of Results in Nigeria General Election. Read beneath carefully to understand more.

Election Collation and Declaration of Results depends on efficient planning and its conduct, i.e accreditation, voting, counting, collation and results declaration. Each of these processes feeds into the next. Collation and declaration of results are critical stages in the election process. Failure to complete the collation and transmission of results in a quick, transparent and accurate manner can jeopardize public confidence and the credibility of the elections and will most likely affect whether candidates and political parties accept the final results. There are situations when the integrity of a well run electoral process is severely compromised because of problems experienced during collation and declaration of results. Collation and Declaration of results are therefore critical moments that require proper care and attention.

Table of Contents

Understand what Collation in Nigeria General Election is

Collation is the tabulation or summation of votes cast at an election. (INEC Manual for Election Officials, 2016).

Declaration of Results in General Election

There is a need to understand that this is the final step in the electoral process. It is the official announcement of election results by the electoral administrators. The announcement of results is a mandatory legal requirement of the electoral process. To safeguard integrity, the results must accurately reflect the total votes, taking into account decisions on disputed ballots.

Level of Collation

Results are collated and or declared at the following levels depending on the type of election. At each level, there is announcement of votes scored. These include:

Registration Area (RA)/Ward Level
Local Government Area (LGA) Level
State Assembly Constituency Level
Federal (House of Representatives) Constituency Level
Senatorial District Level
State Level
Collation and Declaration of Presidential Election Result at the National Level

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION:

Presiding Officers send results of poll to the RA/Ward Collation Officer;
RA/Ward CO collates results and sends to LGA Collation Officer;
LGA Collation Officer shall collate results and send to State Collation Officer;
State Collation Officer collates results and sends to the Chief Electoral Commissioner (Chairman INEC);
The Chief Electoral Commissioner (Chief Returning Officer) collates results from the State Collation Officers, declares the result and returns the winner as President elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Senatorial District Election Results:

The Senatorial District Collation/Retuning Officer shall:
Take delivery of the original copies of the results from the LGA Collation Officers;
Collate the results into the Senatorial District result form;
Enter the score of each candidate into the declaration of result form for the Senate and return as elected the candidate who scores the highest number of valid votes cast at the Senatorial District Election.

GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION:

The Presiding Officers send results of poll to the RA Collation Officer;
RA Collation Officer collates and sends result to LGA Collation Officer;
LGA Collation Officer collates results and sends to State Returning Officer;
State Returning Officer collates results from LGA Collation Centres, declares the result and returns the winner as Governor elect for the State.

Federal Constituency Election Results:

The LGA Collation Officer in charge of the Federal constituency (House of Representatives) elections shall:
Receive the original copies of result sheets from the Registration Area/Ward Collation Officer;
Collate and add up the results to obtain the LGA summary;
Submits the result to the Constituency Collation/Returning Officer
The Constituency/Returning Officer shall:
Collate the results received from the LGA Collation Officers into the appropriate result sheet;
Enter the score of each candidate into the Declaration of Result Form for the Federal Constituency and return as elected the candidate with the highest number of valid votes cast at the Federal Constituency Election.

STATE ASSEMBLY ELECTION:

The Presiding Officers send results of poll to RA Collation Officer;
The RA Collation Officer collates and sends the result to the State Constituency Returning Officer or the LGA Collation Officer depending on the geographical area covered by the State constituency;
The result is then sent to the State Constituency Returning Officer who collates and declares the result and returns the winner.

See steps on how to check voter verification Status

Check via https://voters.inecnigeria.org/

You can check your voter status by entering your details in the form on this page.

You can also check your voter status by sending an SMS with your State, Last name, Voter Identification Number (VIN) to any of the numbers via 081-7164-6879

Source: www.inec.gov.ng

Efficiency View