President Bola Tinubu has assented to the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment) Bill, days after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the timetable for the 2027 general elections.
The signing ceremony was held at the State House, Abuja, at about 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, in the presence of principal officers of the National Assembly.
The National Assembly had passed the amendment bill on Tuesday, clearing the way for presidential assent.
The latest amendment comes amid intense public debate over the electronic transmission of election results in real time.
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Last week, protests erupted at the National Assembly complex as civil society organisations and opposition figures mounted pressure on lawmakers to mandate live transmission of results from polling units directly to INEC’s central server.
The protesters argued that real-time transmission would reduce result manipulation and strengthen public confidence in the electoral process.
However, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and some stakeholders have raised concerns about the technical feasibility of live transmission, particularly in communities with weak telecommunications infrastructure. They have argued for a phased or hybrid approach that would allow manual collation where electronic systems fail.
Details shortly…
