The House of Representatives has approved a proposal mandating the real-time transmission of election results.
The resolution was adopted on Wednesday during the clause-by-clause consideration of the report seeking an amendment to the Electoral Act 2022.
The approved clause states that the “presiding officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IREV portal in real time, 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 unit agents, where available at the polling unit.”
Currently, the law does not require the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit election results in real time. Ahead of the last general election, INEC had promised that results would be transmitted in real time through the IReV portal, part of the technologies introduced to improve electoral integrity. However, the portal remained inactive for an extended period even after voting concluded at some polling units, prompting suspicion from many Nigerians. Several civil society organisations had called on the National Assembly to make electronic transmission mandatory.
Other approved amendments include a five-year jail term for presiding officers found guilty of declaring false results and the designation of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) as the primary accreditation tool.
The approved clause on accreditation reads: “To vote, the presiding officer shall use a bimodal voter accreditation system or any other technological device that may be prescribed by the commission for the accreditation of voters to verify, confirm or authenticate the particulars of the intending voter in the manner prescribed by the commission.”
It further provides that “where a bimodal voter accreditation system or any other technological device deployed for accreditation of voters fails to function in any unit and a fresh BVAS or technological device is not deployed, the election in that unit shall be cancelled and another election shall be scheduled within 24 hours if the commission is satisfied that the result of the election in that polling unit will substantially affect the final result of the whole election and declaration of a winner in the constituency concerned.”
After considering over 70 clauses, the House adjourned the sitting to reconvene on Thursday for the continued review of the report.
