Ex-INEC officials fault 2026 Electoral Act, demand clarity on BVAS, e-transmission

Amupitan

Former senior officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have raised fresh concerns over ambiguities in the newly enacted Electoral Act 2026.

They warned that conflicting provisions on electronic transmission of results could undermine electoral integrity if not urgently addressed.

The concerns were raised on Friday in Abuja at a Yiaga Africa roundtable discussion themed “Electronic Transmission and Electoral Integrity: Safeguarding the Vote under the Electoral Act 2026.”

The ex-officials who spoke at the event include former National Commissioner, Festus Okoye, former Resident Electoral Commissioner Mike Igini, former ICT Director Engr. Chidi Nwafor, and civil society leaders.

President Bola Tinubu recently signed the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment) into law despite opposition from Civil Society Groups who have long pushed for real-time transmission of results from polling units to INEC’s central server, arguing it would curb manipulation and strengthen credibility.

Speaking, Okoye who was chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee of the commission, said while the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) remains a very good and innovative device, the 2026 Act contains drafting inconsistencies that could create confusion in implementation.

He recalled that the Smart Card Reader was initially introduced through INEC guidelines but was not expressly recognised in the Electoral Act until the 2022 amendment.

According to him, the National Assembly has now replaced references to the Smart Card Reader with BVAS in some sections of the 2026 Act but failed to make the substitution uniformly across the law.