The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that the Ethiopian and Malawian electoral bodies are considering deploying some aspects of the tool in the INEC’s Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC), to manage their local elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, stated this on Friday after declaring open a retreat to review the operationalisation structure of the Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC), in Keffi, Nasarawa State.
The event, organised by INEC and the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES), was part of activities to ensure the success of the 2023 General Elections and deepen the nation’s democracy.
Yakubu stated that the EMSC may well be another contribution of INEC, and indeed Nigeria, to election management in the world.
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Yakubu said that the EMSC had become a vital tool in the monitoring, implementation and management of Nigeria’s electoral plans and activities.
He stated that when the commission was first inaugurated in November 2015, its resolve was to consolidate on the gains of the last commission (2010-2015) in building systems for the continuous and effective management of the electoral process.
“The continuous search for innovative and better systems for the management of our electoral process crystalized into the 2017-2021 Strategic Plan (SP)/Strategic Programme of Action (SPA), the 2019 Election Project Plan (EPP) as well as the EMSC.
“Consequently, the commission has, over the years, continuously expanded the frontiers of electoral management and governance by introducing innovations and knowledge-driven systems. The EMSC is one such innovation,” Yakubu said.