INEC sets Nov 28 mock poll to test new election safeguards

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will conduct a nationwide mock presidential election on November 28 to test its upgraded voter accreditation and electronic results transmission systems ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The exercise will also assess new technical measures designed to prevent inaccurate polling unit results and figures indicating over-voting from being uploaded to the commission’s Result Viewing Portal.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, announced the date on Thursday during a dialogue at Chatham House in London, organised in partnership with the Kimpact Development Initiative.

He said the mock exercise would simulate the presidential election and help the commission establish whether its upgraded technology was ready for the 2027 polls.

“On the 28th of this month, we will conduct a mock accreditation and voting exercise across all states of the federation to simulate the presidential election and verify that we have gotten both accreditation and electronic result transmission right,” Amupitan said.

The commission is retaining its existing electoral technology while introducing upgrades, rather than deploying an entirely new system, because of the limited time before the elections.

Amupitan said a post-2023 audit had identified collation centres, rather than polling units, as the main source of problems in election result management.

“We found that the core problem of election result management and declaration in Nigeria is not even at the polling unit—it is at the collation centres,” he said.

He added that INEC had introduced a safeguard to prevent inaccurate results from reaching its electronic portal.
“We have now devised a technical safeguard: if a result is not accurate at the polling unit, it will not go to IReV at all,” he said.

The commission is also taking steps to address concerns over the performance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System during the 2023 elections.

According to Amupitan, INEC is building climate-controlled storage facilities across the states to protect the devices from extreme temperatures. It has also procured additional machines and reduced the maximum number of registered voters assigned to each BVAS device from 1,250 to 850.

Polling units with more than 850 registered voters will receive multiple devices under the revised arrangement.

The chairman acknowledged that controversies surrounding the 2023 presidential election had damaged public confidence in the commission, saying INEC had yet to fully recover from the trust deficit.

“First and foremost, let me speak about what happened in 2023, which resulted in a significant trust deficit for INEC—damage so large that the commission has not yet fully recovered from it,” he said.

He, however, cited subsequent elections in Anambra and Osun, the Federal Capital Territory Area Council polls, the Ekiti governorship election and 16 legislative by-elections as opportunities for the commission to identify and address operational weaknesses.

Amupitan said the results of the Anambra and Osun governorship elections were declared the day after voting, describing the exercises as lessons for the commission.

“Every election is a lesson. The 2023 general election was a major lesson for Nigeria, and the Anambra election was another,” he said.

On preparations for the 2027 elections, INEC National Commissioner, Prof. Rhoda Gumus, disclosed in Abuja on Thursday that the commission had started distributing non-sensitive materials to some parts of the country.

Gumus spoke during a meeting with a delegation from Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, led by the country’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Isaac Parashina.

She said INEC had completed nine scheduled activities and conducted readiness assessments across the six geopolitical zones to identify challenges and areas requiring attention.

“Right now, all non-sensitive materials are almost ready. In fact, today as we speak here, the non-sensitive materials have been lifted to some zones now,” she said.

Gumus also said the production of Permanent Voter Cards had been completed, with most states receiving the first and second batches. Collection is ongoing, she added, while training for electoral personnel and procurement of BVAS devices are continuing.

She ruled out the introduction of aspirant voting for now, explaining that the proposal was not provided for in the Electoral Act.

The INEC chairman also said the commission had received a substantial part of its 2027 election budget but was awaiting the outstanding funds. He expressed optimism that the balance would be released before the end of November.

Meanwhile, Parashina said the Kenyan delegation was in Nigeria to learn from INEC’s experience ahead of Kenya’s August 2027 general elections.

He said Kenya was particularly interested in Nigeria’s arrangements for diaspora voting and participation by special interest groups.

Parashina disclosed that about 12 countries participated in Kenya’s diaspora voting during its last general election, but the country hoped to increase the number to around 26.

Nigeria’s presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, 2027, while governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections are slated for February 6.