The Senate has passed the harmonised version of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
The bill was passed after Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, the Senate Leader, moved a motion on the adoption of the conference committee report of the bill during plenary on Tuesday.
The Senate and House of Representatives had in July passed different versions of the bill.
The Senate had in its version given the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to determine the electronic transmission of election results, while the House did not give such powers to the NCC.
On the issue of party primaries, the Senate approved either direct or indirect mode, while the House made direct primary mandatory for all parties.
Following the divergent versions, the National Assembly constituted a conference committee to harmonise the bills of both federal legislative chambers.
In the harmonised version, both chambers of the National Assembly empowered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to determine the best mode to transmit election results, either electronically or manually.
Both the Senate and the House also approved that all political parties must use the direct primary mode in picking candidates.
The bill is now expected to be transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari.
