2027: Act Fast On Electoral Reform Proposal, INEC Tells National Assembly

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has appealed to the National Assembly for an expeditious consideration of the electoral reform proposal, ahead of the 2027 general election.

The chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu made the appeal during a meeting with the European Union (EU) Election Observation Follow-up Mission to Nigeria at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja yesterday.

Yakubu said an early passage of the law is critical to the commission’s planning for the elections, adding that uncertainty over the legal framework for the polls can unsettle the work of INEC as election draws nearer.

He said in the tradition of the EU, the Head of the Election Observation Mission (EOM) also leads the Follow-up Mission ahead of the next general election basically to monitor the implementation of the Union’s recommendations half way between the last and the forthcoming polls.

Yakubu noted that the EU-EOM 2023 report made 23 recommendations out of which 8 (34.8%) require action by INEC of which only one recommendation was listed as priority and the remaining 15 (65.2%) recommendations of which five were categorised as priority, require action by other entities in the executive, legislature, judiciary among others.

“The Commission has carefully considered all the 8 recommendations specifically addressed to us in your report. Action has been taken on aspects of the recommendations that only require administrative action to implement.

“Similarly, action is being taken on cross-cutting recommendations that require collective action between INEC and other bodies and stakeholders while waiting for the conclusion of the ongoing legal review by the National Assembly on the recommendations that require legislative intervention.

“To this end, the Commission has prepared a detailed response on each one of your direct observations which we shared with you at this meeting.

If time permits, we can go over each of the recommendations seriatim.

“I must also add that your recommendations, along with similar reports from other national and international election observers, were the subject of wide-ranging consultations with critical institutions and stakeholders during our own review of the 2023 general election.

“The review report contains 142 recommendations for electoral reform. In addition, the Commission has published our main 2023 general election report over a year ago. The two reports are available from our website,” he added.

Earlier in his remarks, the head of the delegation, Barry Andrews lauded INEC for progress recorded since the 2023 elections but called for greater reforms in areas such as judicial processes, constitutional review, and transparency in result publication.

Andrews pledged EU’s continuous support for Nigeria’s democratic process in line with international standards.

“We are pleased to note that there has been significant progress in several areas. We also recognise the challenges, particularly regarding judicial, administrative, and constitutional reforms which take more time,” he added.