Senate and House Disagree on Electoral Act Amendments

The Nigerian Senate and House of Representatives are at odds over the amendment of the Electoral Act concerning the transmission of election results. The Senate adopted a modified version that permits manual collation of results when technology fails, diverging from the House's version, which mandates real-time uploading of results from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission's viewing portal.

The House's amendment to Section 60(3) of the Electoral Act 2022 requires real-time electronic transmission, while the Senate's version excludes this requirement but introduces fallback provisions for technological failures. The Senate's amendment also stipulates that manual signing of Form EC8A, the primary document for result collation, will occur if electronic transmission proves impossible.

Additionally, the House strengthened Section 31 of the principal act regarding the withdrawal of candidates, introducing a requirement for sworn affidavits to tighten the withdrawal process and reduce disputes related to allegations of coercion or fraud. The House also proposed amendments to Section 137 concerning the establishment of area council election appeal tribunals, aiming to reduce the timeframe for delivering judgments.