The house of representatives has officially endorsed a proposal mandating the real-time transmission of election results.
The resolution was approved on Wednesday as the report requesting an adjustment to the Electoral Act 2022 was being considered clause by clause.
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”.
However, even after voting was over at certain polling places, the portal remained dormant for a considerable amount of time, raising suspicions among many Nigerians.
A number of civil society organisations (CSOs) have been urging the national parliament to mandate the electronic transmission of election results in the wake of the development.
OTHER AMENDMENTS
A five-year jail sentence for presiding officials found guilty of reporting fake results was also approved by lawmakers.
The green chamber also ratified a clause that would make the bimodal voter accreditation system the primary accreditation tool.
The approved clause 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.”
“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.
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