In a landmark decision on February 10, 2026, the Nigerian Senate passed an amendment to the Electoral Act, mandating the electronic transmission of polling unit results directly to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
Presiding officers are now required to upload scanned copies of Form EC8A in real time immediately after results are announced at each polling unit.
The move comes after sustained pressure from civil society organisations, labour unions, legal experts, and ordinary citizens who have long demanded technology-driven safeguards against result manipulation.
While the Senate has embraced e-transmission as the primary method, it retained a manual fallback mechanism. Where network failure, technical glitches or lack of communication infrastructure prevent electronic upload, the manually completed and signed Form EC8A will remain the authoritative document for collation and declaration.
This dual-track approach aims to balance transparency aspirations with the practical realities of Nigeria’s uneven digital coverage, particularly in rural and remote areas.
The reversal marks a significant victory for electoral reform advocates who argued that the previous rejection of e-transmission undermined public confidence in the democratic process. Supporters hope the change will reduce opportunities for alteration during physical collation and make results more verifiable by citizens in near real time.
Critics, however, warn that the continued reliance on manual collation in failure scenarios could still open doors to interference unless INEC enforces strict protocols and deploys robust backup systems.
Implementation of the new provision will test INEC’s readiness ahead of the 2027 general elections. Successful nationwide rollout of reliable electronic transmission could transform Nigeria’s electoral landscape, while any major breakdowns would likely reignite fierce debate over the balance between technology and manual safeguards.
