The Independent National Electoral Commission has pledged to conduct free, fair, credible, transparent and inclusive elections in 2027, while an international democracy organisation has urged additional reforms to strengthen public confidence.
INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan made the commitment during a meeting with Canadian High Commissioner Pasquale Salvaggio in Abuja.
Amupitan said the commission regarded its independence and neutrality as non negotiable.
He pointed to the August 15 Osun governorship election as an example of improvements in election administration.
According to INEC, 3,556 of Osun’s 3,763 polling units, representing about 94.5 per cent, opened for accreditation and voting by 8.30am.
The commission also cited BVAS performance, electronic result upload and crisis management as areas where it believed the election demonstrated progress.
Amupitan said the Osun experience would guide preparations for 2027 rather than be treated as an end point.
INEC expects to deploy approximately 1.4 million ad hoc personnel across more than 176,000 polling units during the general election.
The Canadian High Commissioner said his government remained interested in supporting credible elections, observation and stronger participation by women.
Meanwhile, the International Republican Institute issued recommendations following a pre election assessment mission.
IRI said public confidence in INEC remained a major challenge, partly because disputes surrounding the 2023 presidential election continued to influence perceptions.
The organisation also identified insecurity, economic hardship, candidate disputes, legal ambiguities and uncertainty over results transmission as risks.
IRI recommended further upgrades to BVAS and clearer guidance on what should happen when electronic transmission fails.
It said INEC should establish uniform procedures for reconciling physical result forms with electronic records.
The institute also called for clearer rules on the commission’s power to review declarations and returns.
Election officials and security personnel were urged to protect ballot secrecy by ensuring voters could mark ballots without interference.
IRI also recommended stronger enforcement against vote buying, voter inducement and election violence.
The group said recent off cycle elections had generally been peaceful on voting day but still exposed weaknesses through vote buying, political violence and disruption during collation.
INEC said it would continue strengthening logistics, technology and public trust as preparations move toward the 2027 national polls.
