Senate Passes Electoral Act Bill, Rejects Mandatory Real-Time Result Transmission

The Nigerian Senate has passed the 2026 Electoral Act Amendment Bill but voted against a key proposal that would have mandated the live electronic transmission of election results.

The bill was passed following its third reading. However, lawmakers dismissed an amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3, which aimed to legally require presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to upload polling unit results to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) in real-time, immediately after signing the result sheets (Form EC8A).

By rejecting this change, the Senate upheld the existing clause in the current Electoral Act. This provision allows results to be transmitted “in a manner as prescribed by the Commission,” thereby leaving the specific method and timing of transmission to INEC’s discretion.

In other modifications, the Senate shortened the statutory period for election notices from 360 to 180 days. It also reduced the deadline for political parties to submit their final list of candidates from 180 days to 90 days before a general election.

Furthermore, lawmakers confirmed the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) as the primary means of voter identification at polling units and formally adopted the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the voter accreditation process.