The Senate on Wednesday rejected a proposed amendment seeking to make the electronic transmission of election results compulsory in the Electoral Act.
The lawmakers voted against the amendment to Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Amendment Bill, which would have required presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission to electronically upload polling unit results to the IReV portal in real time.
Under the rejected provision, results were to be transmitted immediately after the completion of Form EC8A, duly signed and stamped by the presiding officer and countersigned by party agents.
Instead, the upper chamber opted to retain the existing provision of the Electoral Act, which states that the presiding officer shall transmit election results, including the number of accredited voters, in a manner to be determined by INEC.
The decision effectively preserves INEC’s discretionary powers on the mode of result transmission during elections.