Senator Victor Umeh has disclosed that over 85 per cent of members of the Nigerian Senate supported the electronic transmission of election results during deliberations on amendments to Nigeria’s electoral law, debunking claims that the Red Chamber was sharply divided on the issue.
Umeh explained that the vote reflected an overwhelming bipartisan consensus in favour of using technology to enhance electoral transparency, credibility and public trust in the democratic process. He noted that opposition to electronic transmission came from only a small minority of senators, most of whom cited concerns about internet connectivity and infrastructure in some rural and hard-to-reach areas.
On Wednesday, the Nigerian Senate formally retained the provision for electronic transmission of results, as already provided for in the Electoral Act 2022, during consideration of a proposed amendment bill. The decision preserves the legal authority of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deploy electronic tools for the transmission and collation of election results.
The retained provision empowers INEC to determine the mode and manner of result transmission, including the use of digital platforms such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, which were introduced to reduce human interference and curb result manipulation.
Umeh stressed that the Senate’s action was guided by lessons from recent elections, judicial pronouncements affirming INEC’s powers, and the need to consolidate electoral reforms, insisting that claims of legislative hostility to electronic transmission were misleading and unsupported by the voting record.
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