JUST IN: INEC Seeks Legal Backing for IReV, Reasons Emerge
- INEC plans to amend the Electoral Act 2022 to clarify issues around the manual transfer and electronic transmission of election results
- Following opposition concerns over the 2023 presidential election, the Supreme Court upheld INEC’s position that the IReV was not a primary transmission tool
- INEC calls for legal backing to ensure clarity in result management, citing it as one of the eight key legislative changes needed after the 2023 elections
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced plans to seek an amendment to the Electoral Act 2022 to clarify issues surrounding election result management.
Specifically, the move is to get clarification on particularly the manual transfer and electronic transmission of results.
Source: Twitter
INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed the proposal during a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Abuja on Thursday, December 12.
Yakubu cited it as one of the eight legislative changes stemming from the 2023 general elections that require the National Assembly's action.
"Among the major highlights of the commission’s recommendations is the imperative of legal clarity in result management with regard to manual transfer versus the electronic transmission of results," Yakubu said.
Legit.ng reports that INEC’s push for legal backing comes after the opposition raised concerns about the credibility of the 2023 presidential election, primarily due to the electoral body’s failure to rely on election results uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
This followed what INEC described as a "system glitch" that hampered the uploading of results in real time.
Despite initial promises to use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and IReV for the elections, the commission resorted to manual collation of results, stating that the IReV was intended to enhance transparency, not serve as a primary results collation system.
Court ruling and opposition reaction
The argument that the IReV was not a primary transmission tool was upheld by the Supreme Court, which ruled that the non-availability of election results on the portal could not invalidate the February 2023 presidential election results, a decision that surprised many opposition members.
INEC chairman risks jail term
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) filed a contempt lawsuit against Yakubu.
SERAP filed the suit against the INEC boss for "failing to investigate the allegations of electoral offences committed during the 2023 general elections, identify suspected perpetrators and their sponsors, and ensure their effective prosecution.”
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Source: Legit.ng
