President Bola Tinubu has signed the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment) into law, a move that comes shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission unveiled its timetable for the 2027 general elections.
The signing took place at the Presidential Villa in Abuja at approximately 5:00pm, with principal officers of the National Assembly present at the ceremony.
Lawmakers had passed the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment) Bill earlier on Tuesday, fast-tracking its progression to the president’s desk against a backdrop of heated national debate over whether election results should be transmitted electronically in real time.
The controversy has drawn significant public attention in recent weeks, with civil society groups and opposition figures staging protests at the National Assembly complex, demanding that the law mandate live transmission of results directly from polling units to INEC’s central server. Advocates of the measure insist it would drastically reduce result manipulation and strengthen public confidence in the electoral process.
The ruling All Progressives Congress and several stakeholders, however, have pushed back, raising concerns about the technical viability of real-time transmission in regions plagued by poor telecommunications infrastructure. They have instead championed a phased or hybrid model that would permit manual collation as a fallback where electronic systems fall short.
The debate is largely fuelled by bitter memories of the 2023 elections, when INEC’s Results Viewing Portal crashed on election day and set off a wave of rigging allegations that dogged the process long after results were announced.
With the amended law now in effect, attention turns to how INEC will operationalise its provisions ahead of the 2027 polls — scheduled for February 20 for the Presidential and National Assembly elections, and March 6 for Governorship and State Houses of Assembly contests.
Additional details to follow.
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