African Democratic Congress, on Thursday, insisted that political parties and citizens have the right to independently collect, collate and share election results ahead of the 2027 general elections, despite a warning by the Independent National Electoral Commission against the private collation of results.
ADC said it recognised INEC’s statutory responsibility to announce official election results and declare winners but maintained that this did not prevent political parties and citizens from gathering and sharing election figures.
ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said in a statement that the party’s position was based on the constitutional rights to freedom of expression and access to information.
“We recognise that the right to freedom of expression has its limits, but those limits do not take away our right to independently collate and share election results,” the party said.
ADC said it would deploy polling agents to document results at polling units, while its party structures would collate and verify the figures before sharing them with the public.
The party said its polling agents would record results at polling units, while its structures would collate and verify the figures before publishing them, with clear details of their sources and verification status.
“INEC’s responsibility to declare official results does not prevent political parties and citizens from independently collecting, collating and sharing election information,” the statement said.
It argued that recognising INEC’s legal responsibility did not mean surrendering the right to gather and share such information.
“Although we recognise INEC’s responsibility to make official declarations of results and to declare winners of elections, that responsibility cannot reasonably abrogate the right of citizens to collect and collate election results and to share them,” the party said.
The ADC’s position follows a warning by INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, against the sharing of privately collated election results.
The electoral body has maintained that the declaration of official election results and winners falls within its statutory responsibility.
