INEC Gives Political Parties July 11 Deadline For Candidate Nominations

INEC Gives Political Parties July 11 Deadline For Candidate Nominations
Presidential and National Assembly nominations close on July 11, 2026.
Commission dismissed claims that parties lacked portal access codes.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced training representatives of political parties on the use of its online nomination portal ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The electoral commission said political parties have until July 11, 2026, to upload the nominations of their presidential and National Assembly candidates through the dedicated online platform.

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that a senior INEC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was too early to assess the level of compliance by political parties, stressing that the commission was still engaging stakeholders to ensure a smooth nomination process.

“We are interfacing with them. They have until July 11 to finish their uploads. It’s too early to talk about compliance or otherwise.

“The ICT personnel of the parties know the processes of uploading the required details. Last Thursday and Friday, we had a training for representatives of political parties.

“If they have challenges, our personnel are on standby to assist. It’s nothing difficult,” the official said.

INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, also dismissed claims that some political parties had not received access codes to the nomination portal.

“Any party claiming that they do not have the access codes, ask them if they were at the training on Thursday and Friday. Were they expecting to have been given codes without the training?

“The training continues and if by Monday they have not got the codes, then they can now make such claims,” she said.

According to INEC’s revised election timetable, the portal for submitting Forms EC9 and EC9A to EC9E for presidential and National Assembly candidates opened at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 27, 2026, and will close at 6:00 p.m. on July 11, 2026.

The commission added that the nomination portal for governorship and state House of Assembly candidates will open on July 18 and close on August 8, 2026.

INEC said the exercise complies with Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, which requires political parties to submit the names of their candidates no later than 120 days before the election.