The Senate has approved the electronic transmission of election results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV), while permitting manual collation as a backup in cases where technology fails.
The decision followed a reconsideration of a contentious clause in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill during Tuesday’s plenary session.
Under the revised provision, the upper chamber agreed that results “may be transmitted electronically to the collation system and the INEC result viewing portal,” while manual collation would apply “where electronic transmission is not practicable.”
However, the Senate declined to make electronic transmission mandatory and also rejected a proposal requiring real-time upload of results, insisting that flexibility was necessary to address challenges such as poor network coverage and technical limitations in some areas.
Lawmakers said the amendment was intended to balance transparency with practicality, noting that while electronic transmission enhances credibility, elections should not be jeopardised by technological failures.
The decision has continued to generate public debate, with critics arguing that the absence of mandatory real-time uploads could weaken transparency, while supporters maintain that the provision safeguards the electoral process against disruption.