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 to serve as a fallback where technology fails.
The decision was reached on Tuesday during an emergency plenary following a reconsideration of a controversial clause in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
Under the revised provision, presiding officers at polling units are required to electronically transmit results to the IReV portal after voting and all required documentation have been completed. However, the upper chamber stopped short of making electronic transmission compulsory and also rejected a proposal for real-time upload of results.
The amendment further provides that where electronic transmission is not possible due to communication or network challenges, the manually completed result sheet, Form EC8A, will become the primary basis for collation and declaration of results.
Putting the motion to a voice vote, Senate President Godswill Akpabio urged senators who opposed the amendment to formally challenge it.
“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 before the chamber sought 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 stated.
Reading the amended clause, the Senate President said presiding officers “shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IReV portal” after Form EC8A has been signed and stamped by the presiding officer and, where available, countersigned by candidates or their polling agents.
Akpabio noted that the law now accommodates situations where electronic transmission proves 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… the Form EC8A shall in such a case be the primary source of collation and declaration of results,” he said.
The amendment has, however, drawn criticism from civil society organisations and opposition figures, who argue that allowing manual results to override electronically transmitted ones could weaken transparency and open the door to manipulation, particularly in areas with poor network coverage.
