Presidential election results: INEC opens national collation centre, sets rules

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has declared open the 2023 General Election National Collation Centre, in Abuja.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, while declaring open the centre also set ground rules for the collation process.

The rules according to Yakubu include “results for each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) shall be presented by the State Coalition Officers for the Presidential Election (SCOPE).”

He said that, thereafter, he, as the Returning Officer for the presidential election, who also doubles as the Chief Electoral Commissioner, would collate and announce the final result.

“This is a duty that I’m privileged to perform and it will be done here at this place,” he said.

Other rules according to him, included all accredited agents, observers, the media, the diplomatic community, and security agencies adhering to the sitting positions assigned to them.

He said: “On arrival at the collation centre, the SCOPE shall be received at the coalition Secretariat, which shall organise the sequence of presentation.

“The returning officer shall invite the SCOPE for the presidential election, accompanied by the REC for the presentation of the results.

“The SCOPE following the format for the presentation of results shall loudly announce the votes scored by each political party in the state including reports of cancellations and areas where elections did not hold, if any.

“The returning officer then invites comments and observations, if any, from the polling agents.”

Yakubu added that the returning officer would request the SCOPE to submit the original copy of form EC8D