Amid public concern over the state of the economy, Nigeria is preparing for next year’s elections. The country’s election authority has set 20 February 2027 as the date for its next presidential and parliamentary polls.
Joash Ojo Amupitan, the INEC chairman, also said the governorship and state legislature polls are scheduled for March 6, 2027, calling the upcoming elections a “significant milestone in (Nigeria’s) democratic journey.”
He said the elections will cover the offices of president and vice president; governors and deputy governors (except in Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun states); and members of the Senate, the House of Representatives and state Houses of Assembly.
Although INEC has introduced technology over the past decade to improve the integrity of election outcomes, it has had little success boosting public confidence, and post-election litigation remains commonplace.
Earlier this week, the Senate, the upper house, passed an amendment authorizing the real-time electronic transmission of election results. It had initially rejected the measure in the face of popular and political pressure.
Tinubu under pressure at home and abroad
The announcement comes as Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu faces mounting international pressure, particularly from the United States, over deteriorating security and rising jihadist attacks and kidnappings.
Many Nigerians are also criticizing Tinubu’s economic reforms because rampant inflation, rising costs and the plummeting value of the naira against the dollar have divided the country.
The president is seeking reelection, and his supporters argue the reforms were necessary to stimulate long-term investment.
Tinubu was first elected president in February 2023, winning the first round with about 36% of the vote against Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi. The latter has already announced his intention to run again in the 2027 election.
Voter turnout was just 26%, eight percentage points lower than in the previous election. To win in the first round, a presidential candidate must secure at least 25% of the vote in more than two-thirds of the country’s 36 states and the federal capital.
Edited by: Louis Oelofse
DW News
