Electoral Act Amendment: Why we made electronic transmission of results optional – Senate

The Senate has said its decision to make electronic transmission of election results optional rather than mandatory was based on advice from key stakeholders in Nigeria’s communications and power sectors.

The upper chamber said it engaged principal actors in both sectors before passing the amended Electoral Act and discovered that many communities remain outside internet coverage, while millions of Nigerians still lack access to electricity.

The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central), made the explanation in a statement issued by his media office on Sunday.

Mr Bamidele said Nigeria’s broadband internet penetration remains low compared to global standards and those of other developed countries.

“Based on the Speedtest Global Index, Nigeria’s mobile network reliability was 44.14 megabits per second. This is extremely low compared with the UAE at 691.76 Mbps; Qatar at 573.53 Mbps; Kuwait at 415.67mbps; Bahrain at 303.21 Mbps; and Bulgaria at 289.41 Mbps. The Index placed Nigeria far below the global average.

“Nigeria’s fixed internet broadband rating is quite low by the global standard. Out of 150 countries, Nigeria ranked 129th with only 33.32 Mbps. In this rating, Singapore came first with 410.06 Mbps, followed by the UAE’s 382.35 Mbps; France’s 346.25 Mbps, Chile’s 348.41 Mbps and Hong Kong’s 345.25 Mbps,” he said.

The senate leader also referenced electricity challenges as a key consideration in the amendment, noting that at least 85 million Nigerians, representing about 43 per cent of the population, still lack access to grid electricity due to limited distribution and transmission capacity.

“At least 85 million Nigerians “still lack access to grid electricity. This figure amounts to about 43 per cent of the population. This shortfall speaks to the state of our power infrastructure. Even though our generation capacity hovers roughly between 12,000 and 13,500 megawatts, our distribution and transmission capacity is acutely limited.

“As we all know, it can only deliver 4,500 megawatts to households nationwide. But with the Electricity Act, 2025, our power sector will record significant growth from this financial year,” he added.

The amendment

Last Tuesday, the Senate rescinded its earlier decision on the Electoral Act amendment, in which it rejected the mandatory electronic transmission of election results from polling units to the INEC‘s Result Viewing Portal (IREV) after vote counting.

The lawmakers consequently re-amended the Electoral Act to accommodate the electronic transmission of results. However, the provision comes with a caveat that, in the event of internet failure, Form EC8A will serve as the primary means of result collation.

Despite the change, the amendment does not make electronic transmission mandatory. Instead, it allows results to be transmitted electronically while providing an alternative in cases of network failure.

Form EC8A is the primary document on which the presiding officer records the results immediately after votes are counted at a polling unit. In election petitions, courts often rely heavily on EC8A forms because they represent the first official record of votes at the source.

The Senate has constituted a nine-member harmonisation committee to reconcile differences between its version of the bill and the one earlier passed by the House of Representatives.

The committee is scheduled to begin sitting on Monday to deliberate on the amendment and recommend a final version for passage and presidential assent before it becomes law.

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Meanwhile, some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) involved in election observation and civic advocacy have urged the harmonisation committee to adopt the House of Representatives’ version of the amendment, which mandates electronic transmission of results irrespective of internet challenges.

The organisations are Yiaga Africa, Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO), The Kukah Centre, International Press Centre (IPC), ElectHER, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, and TAF Africa.

Senate’s argument on the global standard

Mr Bamidele argued that given Nigeria’s low broadband capacity and limited electricity access, making electronic transmission mandatory at this stage could create unpredictability and potentially plunge the country’s electoral system into crisis.

“The real-time electronic transmission of election results may not be practicable at this stage of our development. To avoid a situation that compounds our country’s woes, it is better we make it discretionary since Section 62(2) of the Electoral Act, 2022 has already established the National Electronic Register of Election Results,” he argued.

He explained that these factors were major reasons the Senate initially retained Sections 60(3 & 5) of the Electoral Act 2022, which were later reviewed at an emergency plenary session.

“All these facts were before us for consideration before we initially decided to retain Section 60(3 & 5) of the Electoral Act, 2022, in the interest of the people and security. The data speak directly to the stark realities of our federation and not the emotion or sentiment,” he said.

The Senate leader stressed that lawmakers cannot enact laws based on emotion or sentiment but must respond to the realities and needs of the people.

“We recognise that lawmaking globally comes with huge responsibilities. As representatives of the people, we cannot enact laws based purely on public emotion or sentiment. These are huge obligations the Constitution places upon us all, and we cannot discharge them at the expense of the citizenry.

“In democracy, law-making sits at the heart of public governance. Indeed, it is its lifeblood that freely flows in the veins of all public institutions. It does not respond to mere emotion or sentiment, but to facts, proofs or realities that can define or distort the future of our political system. If our law does not capture the realities of the federation, then it is a script for anarchy or a ploy for instability” he said.

Mr Bamidele added that the Senate’s redrafting of Clause 60(3 & 5) including the deletion of the phrase “real-time” was intended to ensure that Nigeria’s electoral framework remains practical and responsive to present realities.

“This deduction guided the decision of the Senate to redraft Clause 60(3 & 5) with a caveat, while at the same time addressing the concerns of our people nationwide substantially. The caveat, in this case, is the outright deletion of ‘real time’ from the clause so that we will not end up with an electoral governance framework that cannot respond to the stark realities of our fatherland.”