FULL LIST: 4 Levels of Collation for 2023 Presidential Election as Announced by INEC

On Saturday, February 25, Nigerians went to the poll to elect who would be succeeding Muhammadu Buhari as president and lawmakers who would also be representing them in their various constituencies.

With the presidential and National Assembly election almost ending, Nigerians have expressed concerns over the slow collation of results, especially for the nation's number one seat of power contest.

However, in defence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the commission's chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, has explained the result collation process.

In his address, while declaring the National Collation Centre open at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, Yakubu said four collation levels exist for the presidential election.

His words:

"As some of you are aware, collation of presidential election result in Nigeria is done at four levels after the conclusion of voting, counting and recording of results at Polling Unit level."

Read also

Suspense, intrigues as voters await election results in Rivers

Here is a list of the levels of collation for the 2023 presidential election below:

1 Collation at Registration Area/ Wards

While speaking at the NCC on Sunday, February 26, Yakubu said there is the first collation of presidential results at the registration areas or wards.

He said:

"The results are first tallied and collated at the 8,809 Registration Areas (or Wards)."

2 Collation at the Local Government Areas

The INEC chairman also noted that all the results collated at ward levels are tallied and collated at the 774 Local Government Areas nationwide.

3 State-Level Collation

INEC chairman said that all the results tallied at the LGA level are collated at each of the country's 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory results for the presidential election.

4 National Collation

At this stage, all results collated by the 36 states, including the FCT, are finally brought to Abuja and collated at the National Collation Centre, where the final announcement of the outcome of the election is made.

Read also

National Security Council speaks on 2023 presidential election, reveals final position

Having explained this, Yakubu further said:

"Results for each State of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) shall be presented by the State Collation Officer for the Presidential Election (SCOPE) who also served as the Collation Officer at State/FCT-level.

"After collating the result at State level, the SCOPE shall be accompanied to Abuja by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) and security agencies.On arrival at the Collation Centre, the SCOPE shall be received by the Collation Secretariat which shall organise the sequence of presentation; the Returning Officer shall invite the SCOPE, accompanied by the REC, to the seat provided for the presentation of result.

"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)."

Yakubu further noted that the Returning Officer then invites comments and observations (if any) from the polling agents.

Read also

2023 polls: President Buhari holds emergency meeting with INEC chairman, details emerge

The Returning Officer requests the SCOPE to submit the original copy of the EC8D; when all the SCOPES have presented their results, the Returning Officer shall display the sealed copies of the Results sheets – EC8DA (Summary of Results of Elections on State-by-State Basis), EC8E (the Declaration of Results of the Elections) and EC40G(3) (summary of registered voters in polling units where elections were cancelled or not held).

He said:

"The Returning Officer then completes Form EC8DA and announces the votes scored by each party and thereafter invites the polling agents to endorse the Form.

"The Returning Officer then completes EC40G(3) and compares it with Form EC8DA to ascertain if any of the candidates have satisfied the law requirements to proceed with the declaration.

"If satisfied, the Returning Officer completes Form EC8E and makes a declaration of winner; and the Returning Officer invites the party agents to receive duplicate copies of Forms EC8DA and EC8E."

Source: Legit.ng