… Calls For E-Voting, E-Transmission Of Results Grow
The joint Electoral Review Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives has suggested the conduct of all categories of elections for the 2027 season in November 2026, instead of February 2027.
This is to allow enough time for election disputes to be concluded before the swearing-in of elected officials.
This was one of the major highlights in the proposed amendment to Electoral Act 2022, which was unveiled at a public hearing of the committee at the National Assembly on Monday.
Also on the card is a proposal for electronic voting and electronic transmission of results from the polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) central server.
Section 4 (7) of the proposed amendment states that, “Elections into the office of the President and Governor of a State shall be held not later than 185 days before the expiration of the term of office of the last holder of the office.”
Holding the elections in. November 2026 will give a space of 185 days to the May 29 expiry date of the tenure of the incumbent president and the governors.
The chairman of the House Electoral Committee, Adebayo Balogun, said Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution will be amended just as Section 139 to reflect the amendment.
Balogun said, “To ensure that all manner of election litigations are dispensed with before the swearing-in of winners, we are proposing amendment that will reduce 180 days of tribunal judgement to 90 days. The 90 days given for judgement by the appellate court to 60 days up to the Supreme Court, will all not exceed 185 days.”
Also, part of the proposed amendment seeks early voting, not later than 14 days to the ellectio day.
This will afford security personnel, officials of INEC accredited domestic observers, accredited journalists and ad – hoc staff of the commission the opportunity to vote before the election date.
Along with compulsory electronic voting and transmission of results, is a suggestion for non mandatory use of the Permanent Voter Card (PVC).
On the transmission of results, the committee’s recommendation said, “The Presiding Officer shall transmit the results, including total number of accredited voters to the next level of excuses both electronically and manually just as it criminalises failure of Presiding Officer or Collation Officer who distributes unstamped ballot papers and result sheets. Such erring officers will be jailed for one year or pay a fine of N1m or both.
A representatives of INEC at the gearing, led by Prof Abdullahi Zuru, aligned with the committee’s recommendations.
