BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – If everything goes according to plan, the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters says it will become mandatory for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to upload election results online.
Also going forward, the Committee is focusing on resolving all pre-election matters before the actual polls while upgrading election technology to make the exercise more credible.
With issues around the electoral umpire’s action during the February 25, 2023, presidential elections, the Committee Chairman, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, said; “That is one of the things 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.”
Senator Alli, who spoke on Channels Television’s programme, Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, maintained that the lawmakers are determined to make election results upload mandatory because under the Electoral Act, 2022, INEC is not obligated to upload results.
He said that while working on amending the law, the Committee is also proposing that all pre-election matters be sorted before the election, adding; “We looked at elections and election petitions. In terms of legislation about election petitions, what we think is all pre-election matters resolved before the election.
According to him; “We are also looking at a situation where election petitions are concluded before swearing-in. We are thinking of approving the time within which to file and conclude election petitions so that somebody will not be sworn in. That is what led us to have these off-cycle elections. There would have been no need for it if we were able to conclude election petitions before the swearing-in.
He explained that a scenario where election petitions are concluded before the swearing-in of elected officials would obviously streamline the process and prevent situations that necessitate off-cycle elections.
On the use of modern technology to improve the electoral process, Senator Alli said; “We are looking at the development of technology, an 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 does something about that. It is just to ask INEC to make sure that we improve our technology and that things are there”.
While acknowledging past disappointments, the Committee Chairman stressed the need for further improvement in technological advancements to drive future polls in the country, especially in addressing issues around the malfunctioning of the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) as witnessed during this year’s presidential elections.
