BREAKING: Senate Amends Electoral Bill To Allow E-Transmission Of Results With Conditions

• The Senate has rescinded its earlier decision and re-amended the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill to permit electronic transmission of election results, with manual collation retained as a fallback.

The Senate on Tuesday reversed its earlier decision on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, which had rejected the mandatory electronic transmission of election results from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IREV).

Following the reversal, the upper chamber re-amended the bill to accommodate electronic transmission of election results, while introducing conditions to guide its implementation. Under the new provision, electronic transmission of results is allowed; however, in situations where internet connectivity fails, the manually completed Form EC8A will serve as the primary document for result collation and declaration.

Despite the amendment, the Senate stopped short of making electronic transmission compulsory. Instead, the provision permits electronic transmission while retaining manual processes as a fallback in the event of network or technical challenges.

The decision followed the adoption of a motion moved by the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Tahir Monguno (Borno North), during an emergency plenary session. Monguno explained that the move to rescind the Senate’s earlier position was informed by the need to align the Electoral Act with the wishes and expectations of Nigerians.

“This amendment is to bring our laws to make it a replica of the wishes and aspirations of the people,” Monguno said while presenting the motion.

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The motion was seconded by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro (Benue South), and subsequently put to a voice vote by Senate President Godswill Akpabio. The motion received overwhelming support from lawmakers present.

Recall that during the clause-by-clause consideration of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill last week, Monguno had earlier requested that the Senate retain the provision in Clause 60 of the 2022 Electoral Act, which allows for the transmission of election results to collation centres.

With the latest amendment, the Senate has effectively acknowledged that its earlier version of the Electoral Act amendment was passed without a provision accommodating electronic transmission of election results.