Hopes dashed as Senate rejects electronic transmission of election results

The hope of opposition political parties at winning the 2027 elections may have hit the rocks following the Senate's rejection for electoral results to be transmitted only through electronic means to the IREV.

In it's sitting, on Wednesday, the upper chamber of the Nigeria National Assembly, the Senate, rejected a proposed amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3, of the Electoral Amendment Bill.

The amendment sought to make the electronic transmission of election results mandatory.

The rejected provision would have required presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to electronically transmit results from each polling unit to the IREV portal in real time, after the prescribed Form EC&A had been signed and stamped by the presiding officer and countersigned by candidates.

Instead, the Senate adopted the existing provision of the Electoral Act, which states that “the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot, in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.”

The rejected provision would have required presiding officers to electronically transmit results from each polling unit to the IREV portal in real time.

The development has been received with shock by many Nigerians, including the opposition parties, the Civil Society Organizations and the Independent opinion Nigerians who yearned for the amendment.