By George Mgbeleke <\/p>\n
As the nation awaits the passage of Electoral Amendment Act by the Senate after 48 hours closed door session, the Red Chamber finally passed the Act ,rejecting electronic transmission of election results from the polling units, to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) IREV portal in the 2027 election.<\/p>\n
Rather, the lawmakers, in a marathon debate on the amendment to the Electoral Act 2022, retained the manual transfer of results, as contained in Clause 60(3) of the 2022 Electoral Act.<\/p>\n
Senators voted down a recommendation by the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters that sought to compel presiding officers to upload polling unit results to the Independent National Electoral Commission\u2019s (INEC) IREV portal \u201cin real time.\u201d <\/p>\n
Instead, the Red Chamber retained the provision contained in the 2022 Electoral Act, which mandates electronic transmission of results in a manner prescribed by INEC after votes have been counted and announced at the polling unit.<\/p>\n
Under the retained provision, the presiding officer is required to count votes at the polling unit, record the scores on prescribed forms, announce the results publicly, and transmit the results electronically to the appropriate collation centre as directed by the Commission<\/p>\n
The Senate’s action has dashed the hopes of opposition parties, civil society organisations and stakeholders in the electoral process who are demanding that the 2027 election results be transmitted electronically from the polling units to INEC’s central server.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives had, in its own proposed amendment released last week, recommended electronic transmission of results from the polling units.<\/p>\n
Section 60 (3) of the House version stated, “The Presiding Officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to 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 candidate or polling agents where available at the polling unit.”<\/p>\n
However, the version adopted by the Senate reads, “The Presiding Officer shall give to the polling agents and the police officer where available a copy each of the completed forms after that have been duly signed as provided under subsection (2).”<\/p>\n
In his remarks,President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, however said the Senate did not reject electronic transmission of election results.<\/p>\n
According to him, the Senate only retained that very provision as contained in the Electoral Act 2022. But that Act did not make any provision for electronic transfer of transfer of results.<\/p>\n
He further clarified that contrary to misinformation in some quarters that the senate was buying time to derail the passage of the Electoral Act, the lawmakers were determined to pass the Act to ensure that INEC conducts a free, fair and credible 2027 election.<\/p>\n
Other key amendments adopted by the Senate, seek to bar the courts from declaring a runner-up as a winner of an election in which he\/she scored less than 20 percent of the total votes cast, in situations where the actual winner gets disqualified.<\/p>\n
In this instance, the court is required to order a re-run that will exclude such disqualified candidate and the political party that fielded such ineligible candidate.<\/p>\n
This relates mainly to candidates who used forged certificates for INEC screening during their nomination processes.<\/p>\n
The Senate also proposed an increase in fine against electoral offenders from N500 to N5 million and a two-year jail term upon conviction.<\/p>\n
Owing to time constraint, the Senate reduced the 360 days to the end of elected officers’ tenure, required for INEC to begin preparations for the next election, to 180 days.<\/p>\n
Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and BVAS remained the only means of voter identification and accreditation, the Senate proposed.<\/p>\n
The Red Chamber also reduced the timeline for publishing lists of candidates from 150 days to 60 days <\/p>\n
The Senate, after a debate that lasted until 7: 04pm, set up a Conference Committee to harmonise its version of the amendment with the version passed by the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
The committee is chaired by Senator Simon Lalong who is the chairman of the Senate standing committee on INEC and Electoral Matters.<\/p>\n
Members include Senators Adamu Aliero, Orji Uzor Kalu, Abba Moro, Asuquo Ekpenyong, Aminu Abbas, Tokunbo Abiru and Adeniyi Adegbonmire.<\/p>\n
They are to liaise with their counterparts in the House and complete the assignment in two weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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