On Tuesday, the Senate revised Section 60 of the Electoral Act to allow presiding officers at polling units to electronically upload election results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Results Viewing Portal (IREV).

The amendment was adopted during an emergency plenary session, where Senate President Godswill Akpabio explained how the new process would operate.

According to Akpabio, presiding officers are required to electronically transmit results from each polling unit to the IREV portal after Form EC8A has been duly signed and stamped by the presiding officer and, where available, countersigned by candidates or their polling agents.

He further explained the contingency arrangement in the event of network or communication issues.If electronic transmission fails due to connectivity problems, Akpabio said the manually signed and stamped Form EC8A will serve as the primary document for the collation and declaration of results.

The amendment, adopted as Clause 60(3), followed a motion by Senate Chief Whip Mohammed Monguno seeking to overturn the Senate’s earlier decision against real-time electronic transmission of results.Previously, the Senate had retained provisions of the 2023 Electoral Act that restricted electronic transmission.

Under the revised provision, presiding officers may transmit results electronically where technological conditions permit, but in cases of technical failure, the signed Form EC8A will remain the final authority for result collation and announcement.

The amendment generated debate on the Senate floor, with Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe initially calling for a formal division before later withdrawing the request.