Vanguard reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has clarified that the technical issue encountered during the uploading of the 2023 presidential election results to its results viewing portal did not compromise the credibility of the election.
The commission affirmed this in its comprehensive 2023 General Election Report released on Friday in Abuja, asserting that the general election was generally peaceful and well-organized nationwide.
The report acknowledged a notable challenge that affected public perception and generated extensive commentary—the failure to upload Polling Unit (PU) results of the presidential election to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal in real-time at the close of polls on February 25, 2023. INEC highlighted the IReV portal as a significant innovation introduced before the 2023 general election to enhance the integrity and transparency of the electoral process, displaying images of the original Polling Unit result sheets recorded in Form EC8A.
While the system had previously undergone successful testing in various elections, including off-cycle governorship elections, the unique challenge emerged during the presidential election in 2023. The report outlined that around 4 pm on February 25, 2023, reports were received nationwide that attempts to upload presidential election result sheets were failing.
The commission promptly engaged with its field officials to understand and address the issue, discovering that there was no problem with uploading Senate and House of Representatives election results.
However, the presidential election results faced difficulties due to unexpected configuration issues within the Election Result Modules, causing internal server errors.
To ensure the security of the result upload system and prevent potential cyberattacks, INEC implemented strict security and audit control measures. The report detailed the complexities in mapping the presidential election results, which, unlike other elections, did not belong to or map to any specific state in the database structure.
Consequently, while uploads for other elections succeeded, attempts to upload presidential election result sheets failed due to the system’s inability to identify a specific state for mapping. The report provides a thorough explanation of the technical intricacies and measures taken by INEC to address the unique challenge during the 2023 presidential election.
