While manual collation will be available as a backup in the event that technology malfunctions, the Senate has approved the electronic transmission of election results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
During an emergency plenary session on Tuesday, lawmakers reviewed a contentious provision in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which led to the decision.
The Senate rejected a proposal that would have mandated real-time uploading of results and declined to make electronic transmission mandatory despite the approval.
However, the amendment specifies that the manual result sheet, Form EC8A, would be used for collation and declaration in cases when electronic transmission is not feasible because of network or communication issues.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio urged senators who opposed the amendment to formally dispute it before taking the matter to a voice vote.
“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 clarified that the purpose of the motion was to overturn a previous Senate ruling under 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 revised clause, the Senate President 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.”
Akpabio added that the law now clearly recognises situations where electronic transmission may not be possible.
“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.
Opposition leaders and civil society organisations have criticised the proposal, arguing that it might erode openness and allow for manipulation, especially in places with inadequate network coverage, if manual results are permitted to take precedence over electronically transmitted ones.
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