AN ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC PERCEPTION ON  IMPACT OF IREV PORTAL IN 2023 ELECTION CREDIBILITY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the study

A free, fair, transparent, and trustworthy election is a fundamental need of functioning democracies. It is also necessary for a democracy to be regarded as robust and stable.  Notably, elections are manually performed in the majority of developing democracies, making them vulnerable to manipulation and corrupt practices. This often results in post-election violence and crises, as well as prolonged legal proceedings in tribunals and courts.  Evidently, at the dawn of Nigeria's fourth republic in 1999, elections were manually conducted  where vote tampering, ballot box theft, underage voting, election violence, and corruption plagued the manual election process. 

Ikelebe (2016) claims that because of the unsatisfactory electoral system, there are constantly crises and legal disputes in election tribunals and courts following elections. He argued that weak democratic processes are always conducive to crises, which lead to weak democracies, unstable political systems, and illegitimate governments. As a result, the public's faith in, confidence in, and interest in choosing the candidates they want to represent them in government is essentially undermined.contended that the electoral tragedy might be attributed to petty politicians and certain partisan electoral officials who take advantage of the flaws in the conventional voting system to commit electoral frauds. The cumulative effect of the irregularities, which include serious flaws in voter lists, the abuse of the power of the incumbent, a lack of transparency, and actual or perceived bias on the part of election officials leading to actual or perceived fraud, encourages violence related to elections and has the far-reaching effect of undermining public confidence in the democratic process (UN, 2012). According to Isiaka, Ibrahim& Kolawole (2021)., the scenario explains the escalating wave of violence that includes deaths and maiming. It is indicative of the fact that the current, traditional paper ballot voting method is susceptible to manipulation and human error and lacks key components of a legitimate election, including accountability, transparency, and free and fair play.

 Conversely, to assuage the fear of the electorate and give elections credibility the The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) began integrating information technology into the election process in 2011 with the introduction of the Electronic Voters Register (EVR), Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), and Smart Card Reader (SCR) in an effort to allay voter anxiety and lend legitimacy to the electoral process. The electoral bill that was passed into law in 2022 strengthened INEC's legal standing and gave it more authority to use ballot box automated systemsto oversee elections in Nigeria. Demand for the implementation of electronic voting, or E-Voting, increased from the general public, civil society, media, and international community as the 2023 elections approached. Therefore, INEC now has the legal and constitutional support to employ the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) in the electoral process thanks to the President Mohammed Buhari administration's signing of the 2022 electoral bill into law. The stakeholders contend that IREV can lessen egregious electoral fraud, support legitimate elections, lessen voter indifference, and increase voter turnout.

1.2       Statement of the problem

Acceptable method of voting in Nigeria has been a clarion call that set in motion efforts for improvement and most recently through exploring the use of electronic devices. Information System (IS) scholars and democratic practitioners advocate the use of various technologies to improve democratic practices. Permutation of ICT in electoral processes such as e-voting adoption and diffusion leads to significant improvement of democratic practices in various democracies around the globe.

However, after the presidential and National Assembly elections, concerns have been expressed regarding the effectiveness of the Election Result Viewing Portal and Bimodal Voter Accreditation System used by the Independent National Electoral Commission to improve the electoral process. In the recently ended presidential and National Assembly elections, Okonji (2023) said that the Election Result Viewing Portal and Bimodal Voter Accreditation System of the Independent National Electoral Commission fell short of expectations. Given that several of the candidates have already filed lawsuits to contest the results of the polls, the underwhelming performance of BVAS and IReV in their first significant stress test may have put a shadow over the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections.

In a same vein, Oyemike (2023) said that BVAS had several issues during its initial debut. On September 10, 2021, during its initial use in the Isoko South Constituency 1 by-election in Delta State, presiding officers reportedly voiced dissatisfaction with the machine's inability to record certain voters' thumbprints and faces. The February 25, 2023, presidential and National Assembly elections were plagued by the same issues, suggesting that INEC did not learn from this first hiccup. Many polling places had malfunctions with the IReV platform in addition to BVAS devices failing to register voters. Furthermore, Babalola (2023) noted through Yiaga Africa that as of 7:00 p.m. on election day, no polling place had uploaded the results, despite the fact that results were anticipated on INEC's webpage following the conclusion of voting and counting in a number of polling places. Nevertheless, NEC ultimately began posting the findings and then apologised in public, citing their own negligence. The commission said that because it did not scale up its IReV platform for a national election, its result portal was having technical issues.

Conversely, Iremeka (2023) said that while the implementation of electronic voting may have had certain shortcomings, as seen by the recently held 2023 elections, there appears to be optimism in the near future, since some prominent politicians and political figures lost their elections as a result of the use of IREV. He said, "It is documented that some of the nation's current governors lost elections in the manner that they did for the first time." The improvement linked to the IREV's deployment was evident in Lagos, where Asiwaju Bola Tinubu lost an election to a tiny party for the first time since 1999. Several current governors were unsuccessful in their bids to be senators in the 10th National Assembly for the same reason.

Although  extant literature exist on the impact of teachnologies in electoral process, little or no attention has been given to  an assessment of public perception on  impact of IREV portal in 2023 election credibility. Upon this premise the study was conducted.

1.3       Objective of the study

The broad objective of this study is focused on  an assessment of public perception on  impact of IREV portal in 2023 election credibility. Other specific objectives includes

i.          To examine the perception of publics on INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV)  in 2023 general elections in Nigeria

ii.        To ascertain whether the INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV) enhanced the credibility of 2023 general elections.

iii.      Investigate factors promoting  INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV)  inability to deliver unto public expectations in terms of election outcome.

iv.      Explore the implication of INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) portal inability to credible  outcome  on electoral process.

1.4       Research Questions

v.        What is the perception of publics on INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV)  in 2023 general elections in Nigeria

vi.      Did the INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV) enhance the credibility of 2023 general elections?

vii.    What are the factors promoting  INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV)  inability to deliver unto public expectations in terms of election outcome.

viii.  What are the implication of INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) portal inability to  yield a credible  outcome  on electoral process.

1.5       Research hypotheses

Ho: INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV) did not enhance the credibility of 2023 general elections.

Hi: INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV)  enhance the credibility of 2023 general elections.

1.6       Significance of the study

.  This study provided insights into various dimensions of electoral integrity and how they impact public trust in elections. By identifying dimensions of electoral integrity, the study drew attention of election management body in Nigeria (INEC) to key indicators for building public trust in elections.

Given the prevalence of electoral disagreements between contenders in Nigeria, knowledge gained from this study would be of prime importance to a variety of stakeholders including INEC, voters, candidates, political parties, government, media, observation missions, development partners, and so on. It would potentially help policy makers to come up with necessary regulations that can improve INEC integrity which in turn may result in public trust in the electoral process. Findings of this study will be relevant to policy makers and stakeholders in other to establish appropriate framework for ICT implementation in Nigeria electoral process considering the outcome of  2023 general elections.

 Empirically the study will add to the general body of knowledge and serve as a reference material to scholars and student who wishes to conduct further studies on related field.

1.7       Scope of the study

The scope of the study borders on assessment of public perception on  impact of IREV portal in 2023 election credibility. The study further investigate factors promoting  INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV)  inability to deliver unto public expectations in terms of election outcome and explore the implication of INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) portal inability to credible  outcome  on electoral process.

1.8       Limitation of the study

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing that it is a new discourse thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. However in spite of the constraint all these constraint were downplayed to give the best.

1.9 Definition of terms

]Electoral Integrity:electoral integrity is rooted in ‘international conventions and global norms, applying universally to all countries worldwide throughout the electoral cycle, including during the preelectoral period, the campaign, on polling day and on its aftermath.Such norms emphasize fundamental freedoms, democracy promotion, and human rights, without which elections cannot be classified as ‘free and fair’.

BVAS: is a technological device used to identify and accredit voters’ fingerprints and facial recognition before voting,

IReV: is an online portal where polling unit level results are uploaded directly from the polling unit, transmitted and published for the public.