Senate Explains Reasons for Deleting  ‘Real-Time’ Mandate in Electoral Act Bill

*Defends move on power, broadband gaps

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate has explained why it removed the mandatory “real-time” electronic transmission requirement from Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Bill 2026, arguing that Nigeria’s electricity and broadband infrastructure could not yet sustain such a legal obligation without risking widespread disruption and post-election unrest.

Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, in a statement, said lawmakers took the decision after extensive consultations with stakeholders in the communications and power sectors.

The controversial clause had proposed that presiding officers “electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IReV portal in real time” after signing and stamping Form EC8A.

However, the Senate resolved to delete the phrase “real time,” retaining electronic transmission but making its timing discretionary.

Bamidele said the decision followed what he described as an “inquisition into the other side of the clause” amid heightened public interest ahead of the 2027 general election.

“I have been inundated with messages from concerned and respected stakeholders seeking clarification on why the Senate retained Section 60(3 & 5) of the Electoral Act 2022.

“We recognise the strength of the clause and its potential to deepen trust. But lawmaking must respond to reality, not sentiment.”

He explained that Section 62(2) of the Electoral Act 2022 already guaranteed the transfer of election results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) through the National Electronic Register of Election Results.

According to him, introducing a strict real-time mandate without fully adopting electronic voting would be redundant and potentially destabilising.

The Senate Leader clarified that electronic transmission of results differs from electronic voting.

According to him, while electronic transmission involved uploading manually counted results via the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) after declaration at polling units, electronic voting requires digital casting and counting of ballots, a stage Nigeria has yet to attain.

“As of today, we are not yet at the stage of electronic voting considering the state of our digital infrastructure,” he said.