Nigerian votes to be collated electronically

Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law new election guidelines that will allow votes cast on election day to be electronically collated, ending years of controversy.

Analysts have blamed the manual collation of results as one of the factors responsible for widespread rigging, which is also linked to increasing voter apathy in Africa’s most-populous nation.

Now polling stations will be able to electronically send their results to electoral commission.

Civil society groups have welcomed the news ahead of elections next year.

The chairman of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said the new law would make elections “impossible to rig”.