Reps amend Electoral Act, approve mandatory electronic transmission of results

The house of representatives has approved a proposal mandating the real-time transmission of election results.

The resolution was adopted on Wednesday during the clause-by-clause consideration of the report seeking an amendment to the Electoral Act 2022.

The approved clause states that the “presiding officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IREV portal in real time, 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 unit agents, where available at the polling unit”.

The existing law does not mandate that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) transmit election results in real time.

Ahead of the last general election, INEC had promised that the results would be transmitted in real time.

The IReV portal was part of the technologies introduced by the commission to improve the integrity of the electoral process.

But the portal remained inactive for an extended period, even after voting was concluded at some polling units, prompting suspicion from many Nigerians.

Following the development, several civil society organisations (CSOs) have been calling on the national assembly to make the electronic transmission of election results mandatory.

OTHER AMENDMENTS

Lawmakers also approved an amendment introducing a five-year jail term for presiding officers found guilty of declaring false results.

The green chamber also ratified a clause that would make the bimodal voter accreditation system the primary accreditation tool.

The approved clause reads: “To vote, the presiding officer shall use a bimodal voter accreditation system or any other technological device that may be prescribed by the commission for the accreditation of voters to verify, confirm or authenticate the particulars of the intending voter in the manner prescribed by the commission.”

“Where a bimodal voter accreditation system or any other technological device deployed for accreditation of voters fails to function in any unit and a fresh BVAS or technological device is not deployed, the election in that unit shall be cancelled and another election shall be scheduled within 24 hours if the commission is satisfied that the result of the election in that polling unit will substantially affect the final result of the whole election and declaration of a winner in the constituency concerned.”

After considering over 70 clauses, the house adjourned the sitting to reconvene on Thursday for the continued review of the report. (The Cable)