The Senate has rejected a proposed amendment to the Electoral Amendment Bill that sought to make the electronic transmission of election results compulsory, maintaining the current system for announcing results.
The decision followed deliberations on a fresh amendment to the Electoral Amendment Bill, which was aimed at strengthening transparency and reducing manipulation during result collation.
Lawmakers voted against the amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3, which would have required the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit results electronically from polling units to its central portal.
Under the proposed amendment, presiding officers were expected to upload results from each polling unit to the IREV portal in real time, immediately after completing Form EC&A, which must be signed and stamped by the presiding officer and countersigned by party agents.
However, the Senate resolved to retain the existing provision of the Electoral Act, which grants INEC the authority to determine how election results are transmitted.
As a result, the law will continue to rely on its current wording, 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.”
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