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The Senate has adopted a provision allowing the electronic transmission of election results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV), with manual collation retained as an alternative in cases where electronic transmission is not possible.
The decision was taken on Tuesday during an emergency plenary session, following a review of a previously contentious clause in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
Under the revised provision, presiding officers at polling units are expected to electronically transmit results to the IReV portal after voting and the completion of required documentation.
The Senate, however, did not prescribe electronic transmission as compulsory in all circumstances and did not include a requirement for real-time upload of results.
The amendment further states that where electronic transmission cannot be carried out due to communication or network challenges, the manually completed result sheet, Form EC8A, may be used for collation and declaration.
As Senate President Godswill Akpabio put the motion to a voice vote, he asked senators who were against the proposal to submit a formal countermotion.
“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 told the chamber.
He explained that the motion sought to revisit an earlier Senate decision on Section 60(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 amended text, Akpabio said presiding officers “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.”
He added that the provision also recognises circumstances where electronic transmission may not be feasible.
In such cases, the Senate chairman explained that the completed Form EC8A would be relied upon for further collation.
“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,” Akpabio said.
