JUST IN: Senate Guidelines Out Actual-Time Election Outcomes, Says INEC Can not Conduct E-Voting
The Nigerian Senate has formally distanced itself from the potential for implementing a full digital voting system for the 2027 basic elections.
The higher chamber clarified on Thursday that the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC) presently lacks the technical infrastructure and logistical readiness to transition away from guide balloting.
This clarification was led by Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire, the Chairman of the Senate Advert-hoc Committee tasked with reviewing the 2026 Electoral Invoice.
Talking throughout a tv interview on Come up Information, Adegbonmire emphasised that the continued legislative amendments shouldn’t be confused with a transfer towards “e-voting.”
He famous that whereas the Senate helps the digital transmission of outcomes, the precise act of voting—casting and counting ballots—should stay a bodily, guide course of for the foreseeable future.
The Distinction Between E-Voting and IReV
Adegbonmire highlighted a major public false impression relating to the INEC Outcome Viewing (IReV) portal.
He defined that IReV is merely a transparency software designed to publicize outcomes which have already been hand-counted and recorded at polling models.
“IReV is just not an e-voting platform, however a platform the place the election outcomes which have been manually counted and declared on the polling models are uploaded and publicised,” the Senator said.
He additional argued that “real-time” transmission is technically unimaginable beneath the present guide system as a result of outcomes should first be bodily documented on Type EC8A.
Based on the lawmaker, the terminology—whether or not the legislation makes use of the phrase “transmit,” “switch,” or “add”—doesn’t change the fact that guide counting stays the muse of Nigeria’s electoral integrity.
This detailed clarification follows the Senate’s current determination to bow to public outcry by formally approving the digital transmission of leads to the 2026 Electoral Invoice.
Nonetheless, the lawmakers included a “fallback” provision, permitting guide collation to take priority if technological failures happen on election day.
The 12-member convention committee, just lately expanded to make sure broader illustration, is now working to harmonize these provisions with the model handed by the Home of Representatives.
The objective is to current a unified invoice for President Bola Tinubu’s assent by the top of February 2026.