Nigeria's INEC faces public trust challenges ahead of 2027 elections

As Nigeria approaches the 2027 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) faces significant challenges regarding public trust and institutional credibility.

Following the 2023 general elections, the European Union Election Observation Mission noted weaknesses in the electoral process that impacted voter confidence. While technology such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) were introduced to increase transparency, technical difficulties—specifically delays in uploading results to the IReV—raised concerns among political parties and citizens.

Additional hurdles include maintaining an accurate voters register, addressing issues like duplicate registrations and deceased persons on the rolls, and combating declining voter turnout. Participation in presidential elections has seen a steady decrease, falling from 53.7 percent in 2011 to 26.7 percent in 2023.