INEC to Open Candidate Nomination Portal for Political Parties June 26

By Emmanuel Kwada

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that it will issue official access codes to political parties on June 26, 2026, to enable them access the Candidate Nomination Portal ahead of the 2027 general elections.

INEC Chairman, Aminu Amupitan, disclosed this during the Second Quarterly Consultative Meeting with leaders of political parties held in Abuja.

According to him, the access codes will allow designated national officers of political parties to upload the names, personal particulars, and other required information of candidates nominated for various elective positions.

Amupitan urged political parties to adequately prepare their ICT personnel and relevant officials for the nomination process, noting that the portal is fully automated and will automatically close once the submission deadline expires.

The INEC chairman also provided an update on preparations for the forthcoming governorship election in Ekiti State scheduled for June 20, 2026. He said the commission’s readiness assessment showed that preparations were progressing satisfactorily.

He revealed that the voters’ register for the election contains 1,059,360 registered voters, including 66,664 new voters added through the Continuous Voter Registration exercise. He added that 2,103 registrations identified as cases of double registration had been invalidated to protect the integrity of the register.

Amupitan stated that logistics arrangements, deployment of election technology, training of election officials, and stakeholder engagements were all on track. He assured that all 2,445 polling units across the state’s 16 local government areas would open simultaneously at 8:30 a.m. on election day.

The INEC chairman also addressed recent Federal High Court judgments concerning the commission’s timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general election.

He explained that while one court ruling questioned some timelines in the electoral timetable, another affirmed INEC’s authority to issue timelines for electoral activities. According to him, the commission has appealed the judgments to obtain clear legal interpretations from higher courts.

Amupitan maintained that electoral activities are interconnected and require coordinated timelines to ensure transparent, orderly, and credible elections.

He stressed that activities such as party primaries, candidate nominations, verification of party membership registers, ballot paper printing, and quality assurance procedures must operate within a structured electoral calendar.

He assured political parties and Nigerians that INEC remains committed to conducting the 2027 general election in accordance with the Constitution, the Electoral Act, and all valid court pronouncements.

Also speaking at the meeting, the National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, Yusuf Dantalle, said Nigeria’s 27 years of uninterrupted democratic governance should translate into stronger institutions, improved electoral integrity, and more accountable leadership.

Dantalle emphasized that the credibility of elections begins with transparent and democratic candidate selection processes within political parties. He noted that the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral system is closely linked to the integrity of internal party democracy.

He called on political parties and stakeholders to continue working together to strengthen democratic institutions and promote public confidence in the electoral process ahead of the 2027 general elections.