The Senate has approved the Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal and Reenactment) Amendment Bill 2026 after it scaled the third reading.
However, the chamber declined to adopt the proposed change to Clause 60, Subsection 3, which would have made the electronic transmission of election results mandatory.
The rejected clause would have obligated presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit results electronically from each polling unit to the IREV portal in real time, once the prescribed Form EC8A had been signed and stamped by the presiding officer and countersigned by candidates.
In its place, the Senate chose to keep the existing provision from the Electoral Act, which states that “the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot, in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.”
In his concluding remarks, Senate President Godswill Akpabio rejected claims that the Senate had eliminated electronic transmission of results.
According to him, “electronic transmission has always been in our act.”
“What we did was retain the existing provision, which already makes provision for electronic transmission,” he added.
He also emphasized that there was no effort to delay or obstruct the bill’s passage.
Previously, the upper chamber turned down a suggestion for a 10-year prison sentence for those buying or selling Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) under Clause 22, deciding instead to maintain the two-year imprisonment term while raising the fine from ₦2 million to ₦5 million.
This decision occurred on Wednesday during the review of Clause 22 in the Electoral Amendment Bill.
Additionally, lawmakers modified Clause 28 regarding the notice of election, shortening the required timeline from 360 days to 180 days.
The original clause mandated that the commission publish a notice of election in each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory no later than 360 days before the election date.
In Clause 29, the Senate reduced the deadline for political parties to submit lists of candidates and their affidavits from 180 days to 90 days.
The revised provision states that “every political party shall, not later than 90 days before the date appointed for a general election under this Act, submit to the Commission, in the prescribed forms, the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor at the elections, who shall have emerged from valid primaries conducted by the political party.”
The Senate also preserved the existing rule on the format of ballot papers as outlined in Clause 44.
Under this clause, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must, no later than 20 days before an election, invite in writing any political party that nominated a candidate to inspect samples of relevant electoral materials showing its identity.
Political parties have two days to respond in writing, indicating their approval or disapproval of how their identity appears on the samples.
In Clause 47, the Senate substituted smart card readers with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for voter accreditation and voting.
Nevertheless, following thorough discussion, the lawmakers rejected the use of electronically generated voter identification and confirmed the Permanent Voter Card as the means of identification at polling units.
Furthermore, the Senate eliminated Clause 142 concerning the effect of non-compliance, which had stated that “it shall not be necessary for a party who alleges non-compliance with the provisions of this Bill for the conduct of elections to call oral evidence if originals or certified true copies of relevant documents manifestly disclose the non-compliance alleged.”
The clause was removed after arguments that it would lead to unnecessary delays in court proceedings.
The Senate also declared the establishment of a conference committee, to be chaired by Senator Tahir Monguno.
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