Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives Abbas Tajudeen on Wednesday detailed the major provisions of the newly signed Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment), describing it as a transformative step toward strengthening Nigeria’s electoral integrity.
The two principal officers of the National Assembly spoke to journalists shortly after President Bola Tinubu assented to the bill at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Akpabio said the amended law would ensure that every Nigerian vote counts by closing gaps that previously allowed alleged manipulation of results between polling units and collation centres.
“At the end, Nigerians will benefit a lot from future elections. Every vote will now count,” he said, describing the legislation as a landmark reform addressing longstanding concerns about transparency and credibility in the electoral process.
For the first time since independence, Nigeria’s electoral law formally recognises the electronic transmission of polling unit results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing Portal (iREV).
Akpabio explained that this provision followed sustained advocacy by civil society organisations and election observers after controversies surrounding the 2023 general elections.
Under the new law, polling unit results captured on Form EC8A must be electronically transmitted to the iREV portal.
However, in areas with limited or no network coverage, the physically signed EC8A forms — endorsed by presiding officers, party agents and security personnel — will serve as the primary source for collation. Results will then be uploaded once connectivity is restored.
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“The implication is that Nigerians will now be able to compare results uploaded to the portal with what is eventually collated at ward, local government, and state levels, making it impossible for results to be tampered with,” Akpabio stated.
The amendment also mandates political parties to adopt direct primaries, allowing registered party members to vote directly for their preferred candidates.
This effectively ends the delegate-only system, which critics have long argued concentrates power in the hands of a few party leaders.
Lawmakers said the change is expected to deepen internal party democracy and reduce imposition of candidates.
Another significant reform provides that if a declared winner of an election is later disqualified by a court, a fresh election must be conducted. Under previous practice, courts in some instances declared the runner-up as winner.
The law also reinforces constitutional requirements for governorship elections, stipulating that candidates must secure at least 25 percent of votes in two-thirds of local government areas in addition to having the highest number of votes cast to be declared winners.
Speaker Abbas highlighted a procedural adjustment in the election timetable. The notice period for general elections has been reduced from 360 days to 300 days.
According to him, this shift will move the 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections to January, helping to avoid the Ramadan period and reduce the likelihood of voter apathy.
The amendment comes days after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the timetable for the 2027 general elections, scheduled for February 20 for Presidential and National Assembly polls, and March 6 for Governorship and State Assembly elections.
Response to 2023 Controversies
The Electoral Act 2022 faced criticism after technical challenges with INEC’s result viewing portal during the 2023 elections sparked allegations of irregularities and legal disputes.
Akpabio maintained that the 2026 amendment was the result of broad consultations and careful legislative work, not political pressure.
He added that members of the National Assembly cut short their holiday break to finalise the bill.
“This is about strengthening democracy and restoring confidence in our electoral process,” he said.