The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced a comprehensive review of its Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties, in a decisive move to tighten party operations and introduce stricter compliance standards ahead of the 2027 General Election.
The three-day Technical Review Workshop, which began on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, is being held with the support of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD). The exercise follows the enactment of the Electoral Act 2026 and the release of the Commission’s Revised Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2027 polls.
Declaring the workshop open, INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, described the review as a critical institutional realignment aimed at harmonising the Commission’s regulatory framework with the new legal regime.
“We meet at a watershed moment in our democratic journey,” he said, noting that the Electoral Act 2026, assented to in February, has recalibrated statutory timelines and compressed the operational window for electoral activities.
Under the revised timetable, Presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for Saturday, January 16, 2027, while Governorship and State Assembly elections will hold on Saturday, February 6, 2027.
Prof. Amupitan stressed that the review is not a routine administrative update but a deliberate effort to sanitise party operations and entrench higher standards of accountability. “We are not just editing a document. We are aligning our Regulations and Guidelines with the 2026 Act to ensure that our electoral architecture is not only robust in theory but strong in practice,” he stated.
He identified the conduct of party primaries as a central focus of the reforms, particularly as primaries are slated to take place between April 23 and May 30, 2026. He warned that opaque nomination processes could undermine public trust and destabilise the electoral process.
“The quality of internal party democracy has a direct bearing on the election conducted by INEC. If candidates emerge through opaque processes, we face voter apathy and an explosion of pre-election litigation,” the Chairman cautioned.
Expressing concern over recurring leadership crises and intra-party disputes that frequently end up in court — often with INEC joined as a party — he said the Commission would enforce compliance firmly and consistently while maintaining neutrality.
“Each day spent defending avoidable intra-party disputes is a day diverted from our primary mandate of election planning,” he said.
According to him, the revised 2026 Guidelines will introduce stricter benchmarks for membership documentation, financial transparency, and the inclusion of women, youth and Persons with Disabilities. He referenced Sections 83(5) and (6) of the Electoral Act 2026, which remove the jurisdiction of courts over internal party affairs, reinforcing judicial precedent on party autonomy.
Anchoring INEC’s authority on Section 160 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section 151 of the Electoral Act 2026, Prof. Amupitan assured stakeholders that the Commission would remain open, accountable and strictly guided by the law. “The sovereign will of the Nigerian people must remain sacrosanct from the point of candidate nomination to the final declaration of results,” he affirmed.
In his remarks, the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Election and Party Monitoring Committee (EPMC), Dr. Baba Bila, described the review as strategic and timely, being the first comprehensive regulatory exercise following the enactment of the Electoral Act 2026.
He explained that the 2022 Regulations and Guidelines, which govern party registration and de-registration, operations, conduct of primaries, campaigns and campaign finance reporting, require structural refinement and substantive amendments to align with the new statutory provisions.
“The review and updating of the Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties could not have come at a better time than now,” Dr. Bila said.
Also speaking, the WFD Nigeria Country Director, Mr. Adebowale Olorunmola, reaffirmed the organisation’s technical partnership with INEC. He noted that with the passage and assent of the Electoral Act 2026, there is a need to strengthen the guidelines and regulations to give full effect to the Act and ensure that political parties evolve into inclusive and internally democratic institutions.
The Commission stated that the outcome of the review will produce a clearer and more coherent regulatory framework to guide political parties and safeguard the integrity of the 2027 General Election.
