Anambra election: INEC extends voting time

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended voting time by one hour in the Anambra governorship election.

Voting will now continue until 4pm, after the malfunctioning of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in some polling units.

The malfunctioning of BVAS has been reported in some polling units across the state.

In a statement issued by Nwachukwu Orji, resident electoral commissioner, on Saturday, the commission said the extension applies to areas where polling units were opened after the commencement period of 8:30am.

INEC called for patience, assuring the electorate that no voter will be disenfranchised and all votes will count.

“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the period for opening and closing of poll from 8.30am to 4.00pm. This revised closing time applies to areas where Polling Units opened after the commencement period of 8.30am. In line with existing regulations and guidelines of the Commission, any intending voter who is on the queue by 4.00 pm shall be allowed to vote. All Polling Unit staff must comply with this directive,” the statement read.

“The extension of time arose out of several field reports that voters have had problems with accreditation. The Commission is currently investigating the reason the accreditation devices, Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), have worked perfectly in some Polling Units, but not in others.

“In some of the cases, it would seem that this resulted from software glitches. Our technicians have already built an update to the devise software to prevent further challenges. The update is currently being installed in the concerned BVAS and we request voters, candidates and agents to be patient and allow our technical staff to solve the problem.”