FREEDOM OF SPEECH
FREEDOM OF CHOICE
Counting Procedures
The final stage of the election process on polling day is the counting of votes and the dissemination of results for the various candidates who contest the elections. Section 73 of the Elections Decree mandates the I.E.C to designate counting centres prior to Election Day and these centres are published in the Gazette and announced in the media for public consumption.
1. Immediately after the close of polls ballot drums are transported together with the party /candidate agents (polling agents), security officers and polling staff to the various designated counting centres across the country.
2. The polling agents who accompany the ballot drums hand over responsibility to the counting agents.
3. On arrival at the counting centre ballot drums are assembled in a sequential order. Counting of votes does not start until all ballot drums to be counted in that specific counting centre arrive.
4. Counting begins after the Returning Officer or the Assistant Returning Officer has commissioned the Counting Agents to an Oath of Secrecy.
5. Counting agents can confirm the serial numbers used to seal the lids of the ballot drums before the start and after the close of polls.
6. The Presiding Officer (counting officer) then breaks the seals and the content inside the ballot drums are poured in a sieve to separate the sand or sawdust from the tokens.
7. The tokens are then transferred onto counting trays. There are two types of counting trays - one with two hundred holes and the other with five hundred holes. This makes it easy to determine the votes a candidate has in a polling station, by counting the complete rows filled, expediting the count, and making it more transparent to all present.
8. The same process is followed until all ballot drums of a polling station in a constituency or ward are counted.
(N.B. In an instance where a counting agent is not satisfied with the count, he/she has an opportunity to demand a recount, but this cannot be done more than twice).
9. The results of the various polling stations of an Electoral Division are entered on a form and then summed up to give the totals in a contested area.
10. The results are then announced locally and then faxed to the IEC Headquarters where party representatives have the opportunity to see the result forms as they come in before the Chairman finally announces the results on Television and Radio.
1. Immediately after the close of polls ballot drums are transported together with the party /candidate agents (polling agents), security officers and polling staff to the various designated counting centres across the country.
2. The polling agents who accompany the ballot drums hand over responsibility to the counting agents.
3. On arrival at the counting centre ballot drums are assembled in a sequential order. Counting of votes does not start until all ballot drums to be counted in that specific counting centre arrive.
4. Counting begins after the Returning Officer or the Assistant Returning Officer has commissioned the Counting Agents to an Oath of Secrecy.
5. Counting agents can confirm the serial numbers used to seal the lids of the ballot drums before the start and after the close of polls.
6. The Presiding Officer (counting officer) then breaks the seals and the content inside the ballot drums are poured in a sieve to separate the sand or sawdust from the tokens.
7. The tokens are then transferred onto counting trays. There are two types of counting trays - one with two hundred holes and the other with five hundred holes. This makes it easy to determine the votes a candidate has in a polling station, by counting the complete rows filled, expediting the count, and making it more transparent to all present.
8. The same process is followed until all ballot drums of a polling station in a constituency or ward are counted.
(N.B. In an instance where a counting agent is not satisfied with the count, he/she has an opportunity to demand a recount, but this cannot be done more than twice).
9. The results of the various polling stations of an Electoral Division are entered on a form and then summed up to give the totals in a contested area.
10. The results are then announced locally and then faxed to the IEC Headquarters where party representatives have the opportunity to see the result forms as they come in before the Chairman finally announces the results on Television and Radio.
NEWS
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) inaugurated its new headquarters referred to as Election House
