Senate’s new proposal could put INEC in legal jeopardy in 2027

The Senate has proposed changes to Nigeria’s electoral laws to make the electronic transmission of election results compulsory from the 2027 polls.

The current law allows the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to determine the mode of transmission, which could be electronic.

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the electoral body repeatedly promised to upload election results from polling units online to improve transparency but refused to do so during the Feb. 25 presidential election. It claimed its systems suffered a “technical glitch”, details of which it has failed to provide.

Main opposition parties, Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party, said the failure to electronically transmit results in real time allowed results to be manipulated in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

At its retreat in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom state, the Senate proposed four electoral changes including “the uploading of polling unit-level results and result sheets used at different levels of result collation.”

“Relating to the use of technology in elections, remove the ambiguity evident in Section 64 of the EA22. Also, make electronic transmission of results mandatory from the next general elections in 2027, including the uploading of polling unit-level results and result sheets used at different levels of result collation,” it said in a statement.

If this becomes law, the new proposal means INEC would be violating the law if it again fails to upload not only election results, but results sheets at different levels of collation.

The proposals would have to be submitted formally to the Senate and the House of Representatives, deliberated and passed by bother arms and then signed into law by the president. That could take several months if not years.

Former President Buhari blocked similar proposals for years before eventually assenting to a softened version that did not make it mandatory for INEC to electronically transmit results.

Other proposals:

• The senators proposed diaspora voting to enable Nigerians resident abroad to vote for their preferred candidates during elections back home. That should be at least for presidential elections.
• They recommended the unbundling of the electoral commission. In addition to conducting elections at the state and federal levels, the commission is mandated to regulate political parties, prosecute electoral offenders and conduct voter registration.
• The Senate also recommended punishment for political parties that fail to submit a register of party members at least 30 days before election, primaries or congresses.