CSOs Demand Mandatory e-Transmission Poll Results, Downloadable PVCs

Civil society organisations (CSOs) have called on the National Assembly’s harmonisation committee to adopt the House of Representatives’ position on key electoral reforms, including mandatory electronic transmission of results, downloadable voter cards and the retention of existing electoral timelines.

The organisations made the demands in Abuja on Monday while addressing a joint press conference on the ongoing harmonisation of the Electoral Bill, warning that any dilution could undermine the credibility of the 2027 general election.

The founder of TAF Africa, Jake Epelle spoke on behalf of the other groups – the Centre for Media and Society, the Kukah Centre, International Press Centre, Elect Her, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, and Yiaga Africa.

Epelle urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue the notice of elections in line with the Electoral Act 2022, despite delays surrounding the amendment process, while faulting the Senate’s decision to remove a proposed 10-year ban for offences related to the buying and selling of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

“We call on the conference committee members to approach the harmonization deliberations guided by national interest, institutional integrity, and democratic accountability rather than narrow partisan calculations.

“We reiterate our recommendation that the National Assembly should expeditiously conclude the amendment process and transmit the final bill to the President within two weeks,” he stated.

According to the groups, the divergence between the Senate and the House of Representatives on these issues carried far-reaching implications for the integrity, transparency and predictability of the 2027 elections.

The organisations also acknowledged the Senate’s decision to convene an emergency plenary session on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, urging the senators to use the opportunity to adopt clear and unambiguous provisions that explicitly mandate real-time electronic transmission and collation of election results, approve downloadable missing and unissued voter cards, and retain existing timelines for notice of elections, submission of candidates’ lists and publication of nominations by INEC.

They further proposed a modification to Clause 60(3) that would require designated election officials to electronically transmit all election results in real-time, including the number of accredited voters, directly from polling units and collation centres to a public portal, with such transmitted results used to verify other results before collation.

The groups also criticised provisions in the Electoral Bill 2026 that restrict the activation of election result reviews to reports filed only by INEC officials, while acknowledging INEC’s power to review results declared under duress or in violation of procedure, saying that excluding political parties, candidates, agents and observers undermines accountability, especially given documented cases from the 2023 elections where INEC officials were found complicit in electoral malpractice.

They recommended broadening the category of persons eligible to file reports triggering a review to include parties, candidates, accredited agents and observers present during collation.