NEWS
ELECTORAL ACT 2026: PARTIES FACE DISQUALIFICATION FROM 2027 POLLS OVER DIGITAL MEMBERSHIP REGISTER AS OPPOSITION CRIES FOUL
Political parties across Nigeria risk being disqualified from fielding candidates in the 2027 general election if they fail to strictly comply with section 77 of the Electoral Act 2026, a sweeping legal requirement that is already generating intense political debate and controversy.
On February 18, President Bola Tinubu signed the Electoral Act amendment bill into law after it was passed by the national assembly, ushering in a new electoral framework that significantly alters internal party processes ahead of the next general election cycle.
The new law contains provisions that opposition parties have fiercely opposed, describing them as “obnoxious”.
At the heart of the controversy is Section 77(2) of the amended law, which mandates political parties to submit a comprehensive digital membership register to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at least 21 days before their primaries.
The register must contain detailed information including name, sex, date of birth, address, state, local government, ward, polling unit, national identity number and photograph of members in both hard and soft copies, a requirement that demands extensive data gathering, verification, digitisation and transmission within a strict timeframe.
Further tightening the compliance framework, Section 77(5) states that only members whose names are contained in the register shall be eligible to vote and be voted for in party primaries, congresses and conventions.
More critically, Section 77(7) provides a severe sanction for non-compliance, stating that a party that fails to submit the membership register within the stipulated time “shall not be eligible to field a candidate.”
The implication is stark: failure to meet the documentation and submission deadline could automatically shut a political party out of the 2027 ballot.
On Thursday, the electoral umpire released the reviewed timetable, fixing January 16, 2027, as the new date for the presidential and national assembly elections.
The commission also scheduled February 6, 2027, for the governorship and state houses of assembly polls.
INEC directed political parties to comply with section 77(2) of the law by submitting their membership registers by April 21 and conducting their primaries between April 23 and May 30.
The electoral body had earlier fixed February 20, 2027, for the presidential and national assembly elections and March 6, 2027, for the governorship and state houses of assembly polls, but reviewed the timetable after the repeal of the Electoral Act, 2022, and the enactment of the Electoral Act, 2026.
The revised schedule has now compressed critical internal party activities into a narrow window, intensifying pressure on political organisations to meet the new digital compliance threshold.
Opposition parties, including the African Democratic Congress (ADC), have rejected section 77 of the law and the INEC timetable, arguing that the provision is strategically crafted to narrow democratic space ahead of the 2027 elections.
In a statement on Friday, Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC spokesperson, described section 77 of the law as a “deliberately constructed barrier” capable of shutting opposition parties out of the electoral process.
Abdullahi alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had commenced the compilation of its digital membership register as far back as February 2025, nearly a year before the provision became law.
“This is not a product of foresight, but insider knowledge,” he said.
“They knew what was coming. They therefore had one whole year to carry out an exercise that they expect other political parties to execute in one month, during which they must collect, process and collate vast digital data and transmit the same to INEC by the deadline under the threat of total exclusion.”
The ADC spokesperson maintained that it is a “practical impossibility” for opposition parties to gather, process and transmit vast amounts of members’ data within the stipulated timeframe, warning that the law may inadvertently or deliberately limit the number of parties on the ballot.
In a separate statement, Ose Anenih, a former chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said opposition parties are “constrained” to comply with the requirements of the law.
Anenih further cautioned that there is a “real possibility that only 1 or 2 parties will field candidates in 2027.”
As the countdown to 2027 begins in earnest, Section 77 of the Electoral Act 2026 has emerged as one of the most consequential and contested provisions shaping Nigeria’s evolving electoral landscape with compliance now a matter not just of procedure, but political survival.