Nigerian Senate backs electronic results but keeps manual backup

Nigeria’s Senate has approved the electronic transmission of election results, marking a significant but cautious shift in the country’s voting laws.

During an emergency session on Tuesday, lawmakers voted to allow results to be uploaded to the electoral commission’s viewing portal (IReV). However, they stopped short of making the digital process mandatory, opting to keep manual paper records as the primary backup. The decision has already sparked debate among transparency advocates who fear the move could leave the door open for electoral fraud.

Key points of the amendment:

Digital shift: Results from individual polling units will be sent electronically to the IReV portal after voting ends.

The “Safety Net”: If technology fails or network coverage is poor, the physical result sheet (Form EC8A) will serve as the legal basis for the final count.

No “Real-Time” mandate: The Senate rejected calls to make real-time uploads compulsory, a move critics say is essential for public trust

“Network failure” concerns

Senate President Godswill Akpabio clarified that the law must account for Nigeria’s infrastructure challenges. He explained that manual collation would only take precedence if electronic transmission becomes “impossible” due to communication or network failures.”The Form EC8A shall in such a case be the primary source of collation,” Mr Akpabio told the chamber, noting that results must still be signed by polling agents before being processed.

Why it matters

Electoral integrity is a sensitive issue in Africa’s most populous democracy. While the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has pushed for more technology to curb ballot box snatching and figure alteration, opposition figures and civil society groups remain wary. Critics argue that allowing manual results to override digital ones creates a loophole. They suggest that “technical hitches” could be manufactured in specific areas to allow for the manipulation of paper records.

The bill will now require presidential assent before it becomes law.