The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday bowed to pressure and amended Section 60 of the Electoral Act to permit presiding officers at polling units to electronically transmit election results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Results Viewing Portal (IREV).
The amendment was adopted during an emergency plenary session, where Senate President Godswill Akpabio explained the operational framework for the revised provision.
According to Akpabio, presiding officers are required to electronically upload results from each polling unit to the IREV portal after Form EC8A has been duly signed and stamped and countersigned by candidates or their polling agents where available.
He, however, noted that the law provides a fallback option in cases of network or communication failure.
“If electronic transmission fails due to communication challenges, the manually signed and stamped Form EC8A shall serve as the primary source for collation and declaration of results,” Akpabio said.
The amendment, adopted as Clause 60(3), followed a motion moved by Senate Chief Whip Mohammed Monguno, seeking to reverse the Senate’s earlier decision that rejected real-time electronic transmission of results.
Prior to the amendment, the Senate had retained provisions of the 2023 Electoral Act that restricted electronic transmission.
Under the new arrangement, electronic transmission will be used where technology permits, while the signed Form EC8A will remain the authoritative document in the event of technical difficulties.
The decision generated debate on the Senate floor, with Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe initially calling for a division before later withdrawing his request.
