Civil society organisation, Yiaga Africa, has criticised the Senate’s rejection of electronic transmission of election results, describing the decision as a setback to electoral integrity in Nigeria.
The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Mr Samson Itodo, stated this in an interview in Abuja on Thursday.
According to Itodo, Nigerians have consistently expressed confidence in electronic transmission of results as a means of strengthening transparency and trust in the electoral process.
He said the rejection was particularly disappointing because the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had previously advocated for electronic transmission following court rulings that electronic collation was not explicitly recognised under existing electoral laws.
Itodo described the Senate’s position as embarrassing and contradictory to the stance earlier taken by the House of Representatives, which approved electronic transmission of results.
He expressed hope that the decision would be reversed at the conference committee stage when both chambers harmonise their versions of the bill, warning that the Senate’s position undermines electoral credibility.
The Yiaga Africa executive director also criticised other provisions supported by the Senate, including moves to block the download of electronic voter cards, reduce the notice period for elections from 360 to 180 days, and shorten timelines for publishing candidates’ lists.
According to him, such measures could increase logistical challenges during elections and weaken safeguards for credible polls.
However, another civil society organisation offered a different perspective. The Executive Director of the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA), Mr Ezenwa Nwagwu, argued that the assumption that public trust depends solely on electronic transmission of results was not supported by verifiable data.
Nwagwu said the electorate was not a homogenous group and that elections naturally produce divisions between winners and losers, adding that distrust could not be generalised.
He noted that while he supports electronic collation of results, he was less convinced about the continued upload of results as a solution to electoral challenges.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives and the Senate have begun efforts to reconcile differences in their versions of the Electoral Amendment Bill following the formation of a bipartisan conference committee.
The disagreement centres on provisions relating to electronic transmission of election results, particularly Section 60(3) of the proposed amendment.
The Senate had rejected a proposal to make electronic transmission mandatory, retaining the existing provision of the Electoral Act 2022, while the House of Representatives had approved compulsory real-time electronic transmission of results to the INEC Result Election Viewer portal.