New Electoral Act: Tempering ebullience with reason

A few days ago, the National Assembly completed the review of the 2022 Electoral Act, harmonising differences in the amendments passed by the two chambers. In a move highlighting the importance of the new electoral law that will guide the 2027 election process, President Bola Tinubu quickly followed up on Wednesday, February 18, 2026, by signing the amendments into law. Indeed, a key feature of good leadership is acting decisively when the occasion demands it.  Cited as the Electoral Act 2026, the new amendment is the fifth time the National Assembly has reviewed the country’s electoral law since 1999, when the military restored democracy after almost 16 years of military dictatorship. The National Assembly previously revised the Electoral Act in 2003, 2006, 2010, and 2022. The 1999 Constitution itself has already undergone five alterations, and efforts to introduce fresh amendments are ongoing. In 2010 alone, the 1999 Constitution underwent three alterations by the NASS, and it also received amendments in 2017 and 2023.

Those amendments may be expedient, yet some nagging questions remain: why are we reworking the Constitution now and then? Why is the country amending its electoral laws whenever a new election cycle beckons? Plugging the loopholes or bridging the gaps that may arise from the application of the law is an understandable imperative. The incessant review, however, is indicative of the level of our political culture and the mutual distrust among the political elite, such that everything has to be spelt out in writing. Review of the constitution is not an exercise carried on a whim. When our democracy fully matures and the political elite fully imbibe democratic culture, the need for continuous review of the constitution and the electoral law will be foreclosed, as it is in more advanced democracies.

The making of Electoral Act 2026

In the new electoral amendments, the issue of real-time electronic transmission of results versus manual transmission or transfer of results had emerged as contentious. In the end, the House of Representatives, after a rancorous session, concurred with the Senate to approve electronic transmission of results, with manual transmission or transfer as a fallback in the event of difficulty in achieving electronic transmission. This seems a prudent measure in a climate where internet connectivity cannot be guaranteed at all times. The fear of some opposition lawmakers, civil society activists, and other commentators opposed to the inclusion of manual transfer is that the option could leave a window for manipulation. They argue that when presented with that alternative, the propensity for a mischievous election official to adopt the vulnerable option that offers the least resistance to manipulation is always very high. This may be a plausible argument.

However, in applying the two methods, the primacy lies with Form EC8A. It is the key electoral document, the important document, into which the results obtained from the polling units are first entered, signed by the electoral officer, and countersigned by party agents before they are transmitted, either electronically or manually, in real time or otherwise. What is of utmost importance now is for the Independent National Electoral Commission to exercise greater diligence in the recruitment of officers to man the poll, ensure proper electoral training for them, and deploy only those found sufficiently competent, honest, and trustworthy for the task. That way, the roguish ones who may be out to exploit the system are weeded out. More importantly, the people must be vigilant to ensure that only the authentic results entered into Form EC8A, signed and countersigned are transmitted either electronically or manually. The import of this old saying comes to mind here: eternal vigilance is the ultimate price of liberty. Notwithstanding the heated controversy that attended the new amendments, other salient parts of the new Electoral Act also deserve commendation. One, the new law has now provided the legal backing for IReV. Results transmitted to IReV can now be cited in court during election litigation.

Two, the lawmakers also amended the clause regarding the period within which INEC must publish the notice of election, reducing the 360 days in the original law to 300 days before the election date. This may effectively move the 2027 election from February to January 2027. The National Assembly passed the amendment to accommodate the Muslim Ummah’s complaint that the initial election dates of February 20 and March 6, 2027, clashed with next year’s Ramadan period. Some may argue that election dates have got nothing to do with Ramadan. But the truth is religion has yet to be fully insulated from our politics and elections. Thirdly, the recognition of only two modes of choosing party candidates for election – direct primaries and consensus – is also worth mentioning. In the new amendment, the lawmakers jettisoned the Delegate System, which allows manipulation and encourages heavy injections of money. In most cases, the problem concerns the modality for selecting delegates and their actual number, which creates avenues for manipulation. There is this dichotomy between automatic and elected delegates. All a governor desperate to influence the choice of a candidate needs to do is appoint more aides who automatically become delegates to the congress or convention. Direct primaries, on the other hand, allow all registered and active party members to participate in picking their candidates. This will help broaden party-member participation in the process. It will also return the ownership of the political parties to members instead of moneybags who wheel and deal. This is akin to an open ballot system, which has been used a few times previously in the electoral process in some parts of the country. For instance, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, now President, emerged as defunct Social Democratic Party candidate for the Lagos West Senatorial District election in 1991 through the open ballot system.

The party members kept chanting, “open ballot, open ballot,” which swayed the hands of some mischievous party leaders in Lagos to approve the model. It is on record that in that open ballot primary election, Asiwaju Tinubu polled the highest number of votes ever recorded by any candidate in a Senatorial primary election to date.  The good thing about the consensus option, too, is that it returns supremacy to party leaders and aspirants in determining who flies the party’s flag in an election. In addition to knowing all the party aspirants, it is the party that sponsors candidates, after all. The involvement of the aspirants themselves adds more credibility to the process.

However, I need to restate that the unspoken dismay about the controversy that greeted the new electoral law stems from the hypocrisy of some of our political elite. Some of the opposition politicians and lawmakers at the forefront of the new amendments, particularly the agitation for real-time transmission of election results, were the same politicians who opposed the introduction of more technology into our electoral system during the immediate-past regime. They were the same people who advised the late President Buhari against signing the same electoral amendments until one year before the end of his second term in office, when he would no longer be standing for any election. President Buhari signed the Electoral Act 2022 into law on June 25, 2022. That law, which amended the previous Electoral Act 2010, introduced significant changes, including the electronic transmission of results from polling stations.

There should be no debate about the need for credible and transparent elections. No stone should be left unturned in seeking to cement the integrity of our electoral system through technology and to engender transparent and credible polls. But some guardrails are still necessary. Besides, why should the push for electoral amendments seemingly be predicated on the colour and provenance of the leader in power at any given time? What is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander.

Instructively, President Tinubu made important statements while signing the new electoral proposals into law. He spoke about the storm that preceded the passage of the law, calling it democracy in action. He also commended the National Assembly leadership for managing the process well.

“The essence of democracy is to have very solid brainstorming discussions committed to national development, nation-building, and the stability of the nation.”

According to the President, humans still have a significant role to play in finalising election results, as computers can’t do everything, given that many aspects of the voting process are still largely manual. “It is time that we have confidence in our system. No matter how good the system is, it’s managed by the people, promoted by the people, and the people finalise the results,” President Tinubu added. Nothing can be more succinct.

•Rahman is Senior Assistant to President Tinubu on Media & Special Duties.