2011 Nigeria National Elections
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E
LECTORAL
F
RAMEWORK
Independent National Election Commission
Elections in Nigeria are organized and administered by the INEC, a constitutionally-sanctioned
government institution with a chairman appointed by the president and confirmed by the Nigerian
Senate. Twelve national election commissioners, who are responsible for overseeing various aspects
of election preparation and administration, report to the INEC chairman but are appointed by the
president. At the state level, resident election commissioners are also appointed by the president to
ensure that the logistical and administrative arrangements in each state are adequate to contribute to
a transparent, fair and credible voting process. Chairman Jega was appointed by President Jonathan
in June 2010, along with 12 fellow national election commissioners and 18 state resident election
commissioners.
Voting Process
On each Election Day, all registered voters wishing to vote needed to arrive at their correct polling
unit (i.e., the one where they registered) before noon. Accreditation, where voters check-in at their
polling stations before voting begins, was to begin promptly at 8:00 a.m.; polling unit personnel were
instructed not to allow anyone to enter the line for accreditation after 12:00 p.m. (noon). Any voter
already in line at that time, however, could remain in line, be accredited and vote. Once all eligible
voters were accredited, voters would promptly form a new line and begin voting. Voters were
expected (albeit not required) to stay to ensure that their votes were counted and that procedures
were followed. Once all voters had cast their ballots, all votes were counted publicly by polling unit
personnel, and the results were announced at the individual polling units. The results were recorded
on a form (Form EC40), which was signed by representatives of the various political parties, poll
agents, security personnel, INEC officials and other relevant stakeholders. A copy of this form was
posted at or near the polling unit for public inspection.
Each polling station then tabulated the votes from all of its polling units,
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after which all votes were
physically transported and tabulated at the ward-level in each ward's central tabulation facility. From
these ward-level facilities, all of the materials and ballots were transported to a central state-level
facility in order to tabulate the results from all of the state's wards. After this process, an INEC
representative would release the official results for that state for final tabulation at the national level.
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Multiple polling units were grouped together into polling stations.
