The National Assembly has removed from the latest electoral act amendment bill the clause seeking to prevent the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from transmitting election results through electronic.
The report on the electoral act amendment bill was on Wednesday laid before the two chambers of the national assembly during the plenary sessions.
In the initial copy modified by the leadership of both chambers, which was criticized by many stakeholders in the country, section 50 (2) read: “Voting in an election under this Bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Commission, which may include electronic voting, PROVIDED that the Commission shall not transmit results of elections by electronic means.”
However, in the new copy, section 49 (2) of the amendment bill reads: “Voting at an election and transmission of result under this Bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Commission.”
The latest version also holds that “‘transmission’ includes to convey electoral documents or other electoral information or data by manual, electronic or other means (prescribed by the Commission) from one person to another, one place to another, one stage to another, one process to another, or one system to another, as the case may be”.
In the recent version Section 65 of the electoral act amendment bill, which makes provision for returning officers to take the final decision on questionable results but expunged in the earlier version, has now been retained as section 64 (1).
The section read: “The decision of the Returning Officer shall be final on any question arising from or relating to: (a) unmarked ballot paper; (b) rejected ballot paper; and (c) declaration of scores of candidates and the return of a candidate: Provided that the Commission shall have the power within seven days to review the declaration and return where the Commission determines that the said declaration and return was not made voluntarily or was made contrary to the provisions of the Law, Regulations and Guidelines, and Manual for the election,”
But Sub-section 2, holds that “the decision of the Returning Officer or the Commission under subsection (1) may be reviewed by a Tribunal or Court in an election petition proceedings under this Bill”.
