The Senate has 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 approved on Tuesday during an emergency plenary session, with Senate President Godswill Akpabio explaining how the new system will operate.
According to Akpabio, presiding officers will transmit results electronically after completing the required documentation at the polling units.
“The presiding officer 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/or countersigned by the candidates or polling agents where available at the polling units,” he said.
He, however, noted that provisions have been made in situations where electronic transmission is not possible.
“Provided that if the electronic transmission of the results fails as a result of communication failure, the manually signed and stamped Form EC8A shall be the primary source of collation and declaration of results,” Akpabio added.
The amendment, adopted as Clause 60(3), followed a motion by Senate Chief Whip Mohammed Monguno, who sought to reverse the Senate’s earlier decision rejecting real-time electronic transmission of results.
Previously, the Senate had retained sections of the 2023 Electoral Act that restricted electronic transmission.
With the new amendment, presiding officers may now electronically transmit results where technology permits, while the signed Form EC8A will serve as the authoritative document in cases of technical failure.
The decision generated debate on the Senate floor, with Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe initially calling for a division before later withdrawing his request.
