The Senate on Wednesday passed the Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal and Re-enactment) Amendment Bill 2026 after its third reading but rejected a proposal to make electronic transmission of election results mandatory. The decision followed sustained pressure from media and civil society groups who consider real-time electronic transmission critical to credible elections ahead of 2027.
Lawmakers voted down an amendment to Clause 60(3), which sought to compel presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to electronically transmit polling unit results directly to the IReV portal in real time after completing and signing Form EC8A. Instead, the Senate retained the existing provision in the 2022 Act, which allows results to be transmitted “in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.” Senate President Godswill Akpabio clarified that electronic transmission remains permissible under the law but not compulsory.
The upper chamber also rejected a proposed 10-year jail term for buyers and sellers of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) under Clause 22. Senators retained the two-year imprisonment term but increased the fine from ₦2 million to ₦5 million.
Further amendments were made to electoral timelines. Under Clause 28, the period for publishing a notice of election was reduced from 360 days to 180 days before the election date. Similarly, Clause 29 was amended to shorten the deadline for political parties to submit lists of candidates and affidavits from 180 days to 90 days before a general election.
The amended provision now requires political parties to submit their candidates’ names to INEC no later than 90 days before the election, provided the candidates emerged from valid party primaries.
