By Peter Dansu President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment) into law, officially scrapping the use of indirect...
By Peter Dansu
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment) into law, officially scrapping the use of indirect primaries by political parties and introducing far-reaching reforms ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The signing ceremony took place around 5:00 pm on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, with principal officers of the National Assembly in attendance. The National Assembly had passed the amendment bill a day earlier.
One of the most significant changes in the new law aside the controversial electronic transmission is the complete abolition of indirect primaries, a system that allowed party executives or selected delegates to choose candidates for elections. Under the amended Act, political parties can now only adopt direct primaries, where all registered card-carrying members participate in selecting candidates, or adopt a consensus arrangement.
The new legislation also makes electronic registration of party members mandatory, a move widely seen as an effort to promote transparency and credible internal party processes.
The amendment comes shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission released the timetable for the 2027 general elections. It also follows weeks of heated public debate over the electronic transmission of election results.
Civil society groups and opposition figures had staged protests at the National Assembly complex, demanding that the law explicitly mandate real-time transmission of results from polling units directly to INEC’s central server. The protesters argued that such a provision would reduce manipulation and strengthen public trust in the electoral process.
Although the issue of electronic transmission dominated public discourse, the abolition of indirect primaries has now emerged as one of the most consequential provisions of the amended Act, reshaping how political parties will conduct their internal elections moving forward.
With the 2027 elections on the horizon, political observers say the new Electoral Act could significantly alter party dynamics and deepen internal democracy across the country.
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