The PDP Senatorial Candidate for Bayelsa West, Sen. Seriake Dickson, says the Bi-Modal Voter Authentication System (BVAS) has significantly improved the electoral system.
The former Bayelsa governor spoke with newsmen shortly after voting in Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections at his Toru Orua country home in Sagbama Local Government Area.
He said that the impact of technology had reduced electoral malpractices.
He said that for the first time, he was accredited smoothly in less than two minutes.
“In 2015, the card reader did not recognise my fingerprint, I voted with incident form, the same for 2019.
“But in this election, BVAS worked for me, it is an improvement, it may not be perfect, we can keep improving on it.
“From the way it worked here, the process was seamless and I hope it worked the same way across board.
“It has vindicated my efforts for the adoption of technology in the electoral system,” Dickson said.
He further said that as a member of the Senate Committee on INEC, he fought for the adoption of BVAS and the electronic transmission of results in the amended Electoral Act.
He said that if the process was sanitised, the results would be acceptable to all parties and the judiciary would play less role in determining who won elections.
“The process is very important as well as the outcome of the process.
“With the BVAS, it is now difficult for unpopular candidates to win elections, the BVAS has checked thuggery that most politicians relied on.
“The elections across my area and Bayelsa from field reports were violence-free and I feel the introduction of BVAS was instrumental to this,” Dickson said. (NAN)
