The Senate has passed the Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal and Reenactment) Amendment Bill 2026 through the third reading, rejecting a proposed amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3, of the bill, which sought to make the real-time 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.
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 Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, in his closing remarks, however, denied the rejection of the electronic transmission of results by the Senate, saying “electronic transmission has always been in our act.”
“What we did was retain the existing provision, which already makes provision for electronic transmission,” he added.
Earlier, the upper chamber rejected a proposed 10-year jail term for buyers and sellers of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) under Clause 22, opting instead to retain a two-year imprisonment term while increasing the fine from ₦2 million to ₦5 million.
The decision was taken on Wednesday during consideration of Clause 22 of the Electoral Amendment Bill.
The lawmakers also amended Clause 28 on the notice of election, reducing the timeline from 360 days to 180 days.
The original provision required the commission to publish a notice of election in each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory not later than 360 days before the election date.
