The Senate has approved the electronic transmission of election results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IReV), while allowing manual collation as a backup where technology fails.
The decision came after senators revisited a disputed clause in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill during an emergency plenary on Tuesday.
However, the upper chamber did not make electronic transmission mandatory and also rejected the proposal for real-time upload of results.
According to the revised section, presiding officers at polling units are required to send results electronically to the IReV portal once voting and documentation are completed.
The amendment also states that if electronic transmission is not possible due to network or communication issues, the manual result sheet, Form EC8A, will be used as the main reference for collation and declaration.
During a voice vote, Senate President Godswill Akpabio urged senators who opposed the amendment to formally present a counter-motion.
“It’s very simple. If you disagree with him, move your counter motion. So, if you agree with him, you agree with me when I put the votes,” Akpabio said.
He explained that the motion aimed to reverse an earlier Senate decision on Section 60, Subsection 3 of the Electoral Act.
“When I ask for the votes, when I ask for your consent, let me read the motion. His earlier motion, which passed in our last sitting, he has sought to rescind that. That is in respect of Section 60, Subsection 3. And this is what he said,” Akpabio added.
Reading the amended clause, he said, “That the presiding officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IReV portal. And such transmission shall be done after the prescribed Form EC8A has been signed and stamped by the presiding officer and/or countersigned by the candidates or polling agents, where available at the polling units, because sometimes you don’t see any polling agent.”
The Senate President further clarified that the law now covers cases where electronic transmission is impossible.
“Provided that if the electronic transmission of the results fails as a result of communication failure — in other words, maybe network or otherwise — and it becomes impossible to transmit the results electronically in Form EC8A signed and stamped by the presiding officer and/or countersigned by the candidates or polling agents where available at the polling units, the Form EC8A shall in such a case be the primary source of collation and declaration of results,” he said.
The amendment has raised concerns among civil society groups and opposition parties, who fear that letting manual results override electronically transmitted ones could reduce transparency and create opportunities for manipulation, especially in areas with weak network coverage.
