INEC Gears Up for 2027 Elections, Lays Groundwork for Transparent Polls

As part of its preparations for the 2027 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has begun formulating its Election Project Plan (EPP). This plan incorporates lessons learned from the 2023 general elections to enhance both efficiency and credibility.

A senior official at INEC, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH, revealed that the new electoral framework aims to address logistical shortcomings and improve technical processes, ensuring seamless electoral operations for 2027. The source added that the 2027-2031 Strategic Plan is also in development to replace the current 2022-2026 framework, which will expire in December 2026.

“An important aspect of our current efforts is the preparation of another critical document that will bridge the gap between 2026 and 2027, the general election year, which the existing 2022-2026 plan does not cover. This document will lay the foundation for the 2027 EPP, ensuring continuity and a smooth transition into the next election cycle,” the official stated.

While the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan focused on institutionalizing INEC’s processes, enhancing capacity building, fostering professionalism, promoting synergy among departments, and managing resources, the EPP will be a more comprehensive, election-specific plan designed to tackle specific challenges observed in previous elections.

Investigations by Saturday PUNCH revealed that the EPP was first introduced for the 2015 general election and has been utilized for the 2019 and 2023 elections as well. However, following the challenges encountered during the 2023 polls, INEC is refining its operations to ensure a more seamless voting process in 2027.

“We are updating our election templates to improve efficiency and reliability. The lessons learned from 2023 are shaping our approach to 2027,” the source added.

The 2023 general elections featured 93,469,008 registered voters across 176,846 polling units, necessitating extensive logistical operations involving over 1.5 million electoral personnel, including polling staff, supervisors, and security officials, as well as 182,491 vehicles deployed across Nigeria’s diverse terrains.

Despite these preparations, INEC faced logistical and technical challenges, particularly with the upload of presidential election results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. While the National Assembly election results were successfully uploaded, the presidential election results experienced delays due to technical glitches.

A post-election review traced the problem to a configuration error that prevented the system from properly mapping the presidential results, which are national, in contrast to state-specific elections. TrackNews Media understands that INEC later resolved the issue through software updates, successfully uploading the first presidential election result sheet later on election day.