2027: INEC to simulate presidential election in nationwide mock vote

By Adegboyega Adeleye The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) plans to conduct a nationwide mock accreditation and voting exercise on November 28 to test preparations for the 2027 general elections, Chairman Joash Amupitan has said. Amupitan announced the plan at a conference at Chatham House in London on Thursday, held to discuss “Democratic trajectory beyond the ballot” ahead of the elections.

He said the exercise would simulate the forthcoming presidential election and test the commission’s readiness to transmit results. “On the 28th of this month, we are planning a mock accreditation and voting across all the states in Nigeria, so that we simulate a presidential election and just be sure that we have gotten it right and that there will be transmission of result,” Amupitan said.

He also said the commission had reviewed lessons from previous elections and taken steps to address identified problems, citing recent off-cycle elections, including those in Anambra and Osun, as examples of improvements in the electoral process. “Nigerians must trust me because I’ve done off-cycle elections, and you agreed the last election in Osun State, there was improvement, and I said every election is a lesson. 2023 election was a great lesson for Nigeria.

The one we had in Anambra was another. So we’ve learned certain things, and as a commission, we sat down to address some of those issues, and we have taken steps one after the other,” he said. Amupitan said INEC was working to improve logistics so voting and result declaration could be completed promptly as he pointed to the Anambra election, where results were declared the day after voting.

“We are trying to improve on logistics to ensure that everything is done within the day, and then result. Look at the way we did an Anambra election. By the following day, we declared the result,” he said. He also cited recent off-cycle elections in the Federal Capital Territory and Osun, where he said results were declared the following day and voters observed the functioning of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the transmission of results.

“In FCT, the same thing. In Osun, that used to be a serious problem, that the whole world thought that the whole country will collapse with Osun election the following day, the result was declared, and everybody saw the functioning of B-VAS and the transmission of results,” Amupitan added. He said the mock exercise and other measures were intended to prevent a repeat of past problems, adding that transparency and the ability to audit the process were essential.

“So those are things and steps that we have taken to ensure that we don’t go back to the mistake of the past. And like somebody said, it’s not about if this whole process because if the process is transparent and everybody can audit it.”