INEC’ll be mandated to upload results – Senate

The Senate has announced its intention to enforce a requirement for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish election results online. Senator Sharafadeen Alli, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, conveyed this decision to Channels TV on Tuesday.

Senator Alli highlighted that the existing legislation does not obligate INEC to upload election results, but the committee is actively working to amend this law. He explained, “That is one of the things that we are going to do. Under the current law, it is not mandatory for INEC to upload results; that is what the court has said. But as we are going forward, it is going to be mandatory.”

In addition to addressing the issue of result publication, the committee is considering broader electoral reforms. Senator Alli mentioned the proposal to resolve all pre-election disputes before the actual election and emphasized the need to enhance election technology.

“We looked at elections and election petitions. In terms of legislation about election petitions, we think all pre-election matters were resolved before the election. We are also looking at a situation where election petitions are concluded before swearing in,” Senator Alli stated.

He further elaborated on the committee’s focus on the timely resolution of election petitions to prevent instances where individuals are sworn in before the conclusion of relevant legal processes. Additionally, he mentioned the committee’s interest in advancing and improving election technology, addressing past disappointments with the use of certain technologies.

“We are looking at the development of technology and improvement on technology because a lot of Nigerians were disappointed when the use of the IReV didn’t work, but going forward we will try to ensure INEC do something about that,” Senator Alli concluded.