After the joint committee of the National Assembly report on the harmonization of the amended clauses of the Electoral Act, the two arms of the parliament on Tuesday passed an amended version of the Electoral Act that provides for electronic transmission of election results.
The passage got done immediately the National Assembly commenced sitting after three-weeks recess from plenary.
Last month, the Senate yielded to pressure from Nigerians and took a reverse movement on its earlier position that electronic transmission was impossible. In its new position on October 12, the Senate yielded to the position of the law and handed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the obligation and sole power to decide how best to handle elections.
Clause 52 (2) of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill provides that: “voting at an election and transmission of results under this Bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Commission, which may include electronic voting”.
It didn’t take long after the Senate passage when the House followed in the same steps and also passed the bill, completing the process of amending the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
