INEC Moves To Rebuild Electoral Trust With Nationwide Mock Poll

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has scheduled a nationwide mock accreditation and voting exercise for November 28 as part of efforts to address technical and administrative concerns ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The exercise will provide an opportunity for the commission to test its upgraded electoral technology, particularly the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and electronic transmission of results, before Nigerians head to the polls.

INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, announced the plan on Thursday during a dialogue organised by Chatham House in London in partnership with the Kimpact Development Initiative.

He explained that the exercise would simulate a presidential election across all states of the federation, allowing the commission to assess whether its accreditation and result transmission systems were functioning as expected.

The planned test comes against the background of widespread criticism that followed the 2023 general elections, particularly concerns over the electronic transmission of results and the management of figures at collation centres.

Amupitan acknowledged that the controversies surrounding the 2023 presidential election had damaged public confidence in the electoral commission, admitting that INEC had yet to fully recover from the loss of trust.

He said the commission’s review of previous elections identified collation centres as a major source of problems in the management and declaration of results.

In response, INEC has introduced technical safeguards intended to prevent inaccurate polling unit results and figures indicating over-voting from being uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal, known as IReV.

According to the chairman, results that fail the commission’s accuracy checks at polling units would not be allowed onto the portal.

The commission is also upgrading its existing electoral technology rather than introducing an entirely new system, citing the limited time available before the 2027 elections.

As part of the improvements, INEC has procured additional BVAS devices and reduced the maximum number of registered voters assigned to each machine from 1,250 to 850.

Polling units with more than 850 registered voters are expected to receive additional devices to reduce pressure on the accreditation system and minimise delays.

The commission is also constructing climate-controlled storage facilities across the states and the Federal Capital Territory to protect BVAS equipment from extreme temperatures and storage-related problems.

Amupitan identified insecurity, logistics and result management as major areas requiring attention before the next general elections.

He said INEC was also working to improve the movement of election materials and ensure that voting and result declaration processes were completed more promptly.

The chairman pointed to recent off-cycle elections in Anambra and Osun as examples of improvements recorded by the commission, noting that results in both states were declared the day after voting.

However, the November 28 exercise will provide another opportunity to assess whether the technical changes can address the concerns that affected confidence in the electoral process.

The commission has also begun distributing non-sensitive election materials to some states as part of its preparations for the 2027 polls.

The presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, 2027, while governorship and state assembly elections will hold on February 6, 2027.

With the mock exercise approaching, attention will be on whether INEC can demonstrate that its upgraded systems are reliable, transparent and capable of supporting a credible electoral process.

The outcome could provide useful information about the commission’s level of preparedness, although the nationwide test alone will not settle all concerns surrounding election security, logistics and public confidence.