Senate Approves Electoral Reform Bill, Cuts Election Notice Period to 180 Days

The Senate has passed a new electoral amendment bill after reviewing and approving all 155 clauses contained in the proposed legislation. While most of the provisions were maintained as originally presented, lawmakers introduced several key changes during the clause-by-clause consideration.

One major amendment was the reduction of the timeframe required for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a notice of election. The Senate revised the period from 360 days to 180 days ahead of an election.

However, senators declined to approve the real-time electronic transmission of results directly from polling units to the IReV portal. Instead, they chose to uphold the existing provision in Clause 60 of the 2022 Electoral Act, which permits results to be transmitted using any method determined by INEC.

The Senate also maintained the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) as the only valid means of voter accreditation, rejecting proposals in Clause 47 that sought to introduce electronic or alternative forms of identification.