Senate Rejects Mandatory Electronic Transmission of Election Results, Retains INEC Discretion
Nigeria’s push for deeper electoral transparency suffered a setback on Wednesday as the Senate voted down a proposal seeking to make the electronic transmission of election results compulsory under the law.
PulseNets learnt that lawmakers rejected an amendment to Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, a provision designed to remove the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) discretionary authority over how election results are transmitted.
The defeated amendment would have made it a legal obligation for INEC presiding officers to electronically upload results from every polling unit to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) in real time.
Under the proposal, results were to be transmitted immediately after Form EC8A had been duly completed, signed, and stamped by the presiding officer, with party agents also countersigning the document at the polling unit.
Instead, the Senate opted to retain the much-debated wording of the existing Electoral Act, a decision that preserves the current framework governing result transmission.
As obtained by PulseNets, the law presently provides 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.”
By maintaining this clause, lawmakers have effectively left the choice of transmission method entirely in INEC’s hands, allowing the commission to determine whether electronic transmission will be used or not.
Critics argue that this discretion represents a major loophole, one they insist was exploited during the 2023 general elections to compromise public confidence in the electoral process.
The Senate’s decision has triggered widespread disappointment among voters and civil society organisations who had strongly supported the amendment as a critical safeguard against manual tampering with results at collation centres.
Political analysts who spoke to PulseNets described the rejection as a backward move with far-reaching consequences for Nigeria’s democratic future.
“There was an expectation that lawmakers would draw lessons from the controversies of 2023, when the IREV platform became a national talking point for all the wrong reasons,” analyst Gerald Ede said. “By refusing to enforce mandatory electronic transmission, the Senate has effectively sustained a system that allows human interference, vote manipulation, and what many Nigerians describe as ‘manual magic.’”
Supporters of the proposed amendment had framed mandatory, real-time transmission as the most effective way to rebuild voter trust and reduce post-election litigation.
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The rejection comes at a time when calls for comprehensive electoral reforms are growing louder, with many Nigerians demanding systems that limit human discretion and enhance transparency.
Observers warned that continuing to leave the “manner” of result transmission to INEC—an institution frequently criticised for technical failures during critical collation periods—could prolong electoral disputes and further weaken the legitimacy of elected officials.
