The Anambra State Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has appraised the public demonstration of the Smart Card Readers at Igboukwu Ward 1 at the weekend, saying the success recorded was on the heels of the painstaking efforts by the stakeholders before and during the exercise.

According to the statement issued by the state INEC Deputy Director, Public Relations, Mr. Frank Egbo, Igbo-Ukwu Ward 1, which has a total of 8,033 registered voters and 22 polling units (PUs) was selected because of its combined rural and urban nature.

He pointed out that a total number of 95 INEC staff members, which comprised of 22 presiding officers (POs), 71 assistant presiding officers (APOs) and two supervisory presiding officers (SPO) were trained for two days – 5th to 6th March 2015 – on the technicalities and operation of the SCRs, including the process of PU set up, accreditation and authentication of the voter.

The statement read: “All the SCRs worked efficiently in all the PUs, except in one PU, where the operator inadvertently pressed the “close -‘V’ icon” of the card reader which caused the SCR to shut down before the end of the accreditation.

“Nonetheless, a replacement was immediately sent to the area and the process continued till 1pm, the official closing hour.

“There were two police men in every PU and no reported security breach in any area in Igboukwu on the day of the SCR public demonstration. Thus, security arrangement was excellent for the SCR field trial in Anambra State.

"Also, time of voter verification was generally good, except in five instances where the time went more that 120 seconds. The Commission hopes to improve on this before the March 28th 2015 Election Day.

He noted that 943 prospective voters, representing 21.7 per cent of the total registered voters of 8,033 in the ward turned out for the SCR field test, adding that 738 persons (78.3%) of the turnout for the exercise were verified without any hitches, while 205 persons (21.7%) were unverified fingers.

The reason for the unverified fingers, he said, is being studied for improvement.

Egbo whike, expressing joy that most of the card readers had more than 80% life span left after the exercise for the day, further explained that the SCR batteries were able to last the duration of the exercise, 08:00 hours to 13:00 hours, expressing happiness that most of the card readers life span for the day left in it after the exercise.

The Commission also hailed the people of Igboukwu for their orderly manner throughout while the exercise lasted I their town.

•Photo shows card reader