The 2027 election may be delayed or held using the 2022 electoral law unless the National Assembly completes its work on the amendment of the Electoral Act within three weeks and receives President Bola Tinubu’s immediate assent.
Fresh anxiety over the fate of the 2027 general elections heightened over the weekend following Thursday’s decision of the House of Representatives to step down consideration of the Electoral Act amendment bill.
This was amid concerns by opposition parties and civil society organisations that delays by the National Assembly could disrupt the country’s tightly regulated electoral timetable.
Last week, the Senate appointed a seven-member committee to harmonise the contributions of senators on the bill and present its report tomorrow.
If the polls were to be conducted on February 20, 2027, with the 2022 Electoral Act, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, must issue the notice on or before February 24.
Why? Section 28(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 mandates INEC to issue a notice of election not later than 360 days before polling day. The last presidential election was held on February 25, 2023; the next presidential election is due on February 20 2027.
This means INEC is rapidly running out of time, even with the old law. Without postponement, a host of good amendments proposed by stakeholders and legislators cannot be implemented in 2027.
More alarming is the proposed amendment seeking to shift presidential and gubernatorial elections to November 2026.
With the existing 360-day notice requirement still intact and no amended law in force, that timetable has become practically unworkable, exposing a widening gap between legislative ambition and legal reality.
At a joint public hearing on October 13, 2025, lawmakers proposed that presidential and gubernatorial elections should hold not later than 185 days before the expiration of incumbents’ tenure on May 29, 2027.
Section 4(7) of the draft amendment states: “Elections into the office of the President and Governor of a State shall be held not later than 185 days before the expiration of the term of office of the last holder of the office.”
By this calculation, elections would fall in November 2026. But without an amended law in place, and with the 360-day notice requirement still binding, the proposal is already colliding with statutory timelines.
The National Assembly is considering far-reaching changes, including holding all elections in one day, mandatory electronic transmission of results, early voting for security personnel and election officials, diaspora voting, and conclusion of election disputes before swearing-in.
