• Approve five-year jail term for falsification of election results
The House of Representatives yesterday approved a key amendment to the Electoral Act 2022, formally mandating the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and real-time electronic transmission of election results from polling units.
The amendment also introduces a five-year jail term for presiding officers found guilty of declaring false results.
The approval came after a clause-by-clause consideration of the report on “A bill for an act to amend the 2022 Electoral Act” presented by the House Committee on Electoral Matters.
The House adopted sections which repeal the 2022 Act and embed stringent technological provisions.
The House approved clause 47, which now makes BVAS the primary tool for voter accreditation, replacing the smart card reader and allowing voters to present electronic identification, including downloadable voter cards with unique QR codes.
The section now reads: “To vote, the Presiding Officer shall use a Bimodal Voter Accreditation System or any other technological device that may be prescribed by the Commission, for the accreditation of voters, to verify, confirm or authenticate the particulars of the intending voter in the manner prescribed by the Commission.
“Where a Bimodal Voter Accreditation System or any other technological device deployed for accreditation of voters fails to function in any unit and a fresh card reader or technological device is not deployed, the election in that unit shall be cancelled and another election shall be scheduled within 24 hours if the commission is satisfied that the result of the election in that polling unit will substantially affect the final result of the whole election and declaration of a winner in the constituency concerned”.
Clause 60 also mandates that presiding officers to transmit results directly to the INEC Result Viewing (IREV) portal in real time, concurrently with physical collation.
Section 60 (3) of the Electoral Act as amended, according to the Green Chamber, now reads: “The Presiding Officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to IREV portal in real time and such transmission shall be done after the prescribed form EC8A have been signed and stamped by the Presiding Officer and or counter-signed by the candidates or polling unit agents where available at the polling unit.”
The House further approved Clause 62, which introduces strict penalties for falsifying results.
It stated that returning or collation officers who intentionally announced false results faced imprisonment for a minimum of five years.
The House also approves a 10-year jail term without an option for any presiding officer or collation officer who fails to stamp and sign a ballot paper or result sheet without lawful reason.
However, the lawmakers did not complete consideration of the entire report, with the Deputy Speaker announcing that deliberations on the remaining sections of the bill would continue tomorrow.
Once fully passed and sent to the Senate for concurrence, the bill will require presidential assent to become law.
