The Secretary, Abia State Independent Electoral Commission (ABSIEC), Mr Tony Mgbarine, on Monday explained why the commission jettisoned the use of the card reader for the upcoming Local Government election in the state.

Mgbarine said in an interview with the Newsmen in Umuahia that the decision was taken in order to avoid some problems encountered with card readers during the conduct of the 2015 general elections in the country.

“We are not going to use the card reader because of the problem it caused in the last general elections in the country.

“The functionality of the machine was a problem at that time, when fingerprints of many eligible voters, could not be captured,’’ Mgbarine said.

He further explained that the decision not to deploy the card reader in the conduct of the polls was also informed by “the shortness of time and other things involved in it.”

Mgbarine said that the election would be by “open-secret ballot”, adding that the process had been simplified to ensure a smooth and successful exercise.

He also gave reasons why the commission would not be able to announce the results of the chairmanship polls on the election day.

The secretary said that results from far-flung local government areas, such as Arochukwu, Ukwa east, Umunneochi, would not possibly get to Umuahia early enough for declaration.

He said that apart from the distance, most of the roads leading to the local government areas were in deplorable condition.

“It’s not possible for results from the 17 local government areas, especially, Arochukwu, Ukwa and Umunneochi, to arrive at Umuahia before 5 pm,” he said.

Mgbarine dispelled the fear that the decision by the commission to declare the chairmanship results a day after the election was meant to favour a particular political party.

“The collation, compilation and tabulation of figures are not things you do in a hurry.

“The process is manual and not computerised,” he said, adding that the commission was committed to doing a thorough job.

“So, the gap between the period the elections are conducted and the day the results are announced is not meant to give any political party an advantage.

“We only wanted to do the proper thing so that we eliminate areas where we have errors that would have been avoided,’’ Mgbarine said.

He said that the..http://www.abnews247.com/?p=15955