#FixPolitics, a citizens-led research-based movement designed to structurally change and innovate politics in Nigeria and Africa as a whole, celebrates the victory which Nigerian citizens recorded in the resolution by the Nigerian Senate on Tuesday, 12 October 2021, to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) determine the mode of transmission of results during elections.
The senate, in making the amendment, confers on INEC the powers to determine whether to transmit the results of elections electronically or manually.
Specifically, the Senate amended Clause 52(2) of the Electoral Bill to read thus: “Subject to section 63 of this Bill, voting at an election and transmission of results under this Bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Commission, which may include electronic voting.”
#FixPolitics says it considers the reversal of the Senate’s earlier resolution, which subjected INEC’s power to transmit election results electronically to the approval of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Assembly, as a major step towards the actualisation of Nigerians’ desire for elections that are transparent, free and fair.
“#FixPolitics is one of the Civil Society Organisations which demanded that the Nigerian legislature must amend the nation’s electoral laws to include the electronic transmission of election results. The group had made presentations at the various public hearings held by the Senate and House of Representatives on constitutional and electoral reforms, along with other advocacy efforts. In particular, a petition was uploaded on the ‘change.org’ platform inviting as many as one million citizens to append their signatures and demand for the electronic transmission of election results. The petition was endorsed by about one hundred CSOs, NGOs including the Nigeria Bar Association.
“Given that Nigeria practices a representative democracy, #FixPolitics holds the ‘Office of the Citizen’ as the highest office in the land and is delighted that the Nigerian Senate has realised that as representatives of the people, their power as members of that hallowed chamber derives from the people and, therefore, it is their duty to pass laws that reflect the will of the people.
“#FixPolitics calls on Nigerian citizens to continue to make their voices heard on issues which bear directly on their well-being and that of their country; for example, the demand that the Nigerian Constitution include a provision for holding Referendums, which #FixPolitics has already posted a petition in that regard on the ‘Change.Org’ platform.
“#FixPolitics will not relent in its commitment to promoting values-based leadership, advocating for the realization of empowered and engaged citizens and proposing structural reforms to our electoral and constitutional processes with a view to engendering good governance in Nigeria. We believe that more victories will be won for a truly democratic Nigeria as citizens recognise and use their constitutional powers to elect and hold leaders accountable. Our country is on the move.”
