Supreme Court Judgement: Some Parties May Have No Candidates in 2027 — INEC

• Commission meets next week as ruling puts governorship, Assembly tickets at risk

By Franklin Adole

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned that some political parties may be unable to field candidates in the 2027 general elections following the Supreme Court judgement restoring key provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 governing party membership registers and nomination of candidates.

INEC National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Mohammed Haruna, said the commission would meet next week to determine the full implications of the September 24 judgement, amid growing anxiety within political parties over the fate of their candidates.

Haruna, who spoke on Trust Television’s Daily Politics, said the Supreme Court ruling had strengthened INEC’s position that parties must comply strictly with the statutory requirement to submit their membership registers to the commission ahead of their primaries.

“Definitely, we will meet next week to take a decision on it. I know a lot of people are anxious, not just the candidates themselves; even the public is anxious,” he said.

“The Supreme Court has strengthened our hands and said we were right to have insisted that any party that wants to contest must submit the list of its membership three weeks before their primaries.

“So, we really need to sit down and look at it. By next week, we will do that and take a decision.”

The warning could have significant consequences for parties whose candidates emerged from primaries conducted without compliance with the membership register requirements of the Electoral Act.

Asked whether affected parties could be allowed to replace candidates or submit fresh names, Haruna said the window for such remedial action had effectively closed.

“It’s too late to do anything. The parties won’t even be able to contest. It’s like you committed an offence and you want to come and benefit,” he said.

Haruna cited previous electoral disputes involving Zamfara and Plateau states, arguing that parties found to have breached mandatory electoral requirements could not subsequently seek to benefit from the same defective process.

“The law was very clear: once you do that kind of thing, you cannot benefit. You can only benefit from it if you are able to substitute a candidate,” he said.

He added that the implications could extend beyond presidential and National Assembly contests to governorship and state legislative elections.

“But depending on when we look at the law and take a decision, some parties will not be able to field even governorship candidates,” Haruna warned.

The controversy follows the September 24 judgement of a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court, which allowed INEC’s appeal and restored Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026.

The apex court reversed the July judgement of the Court of Appeal, which had voided the provisions after a legal challenge by the Zenith Labour Party.

In the lead judgement delivered by Justice Adamu Jauro, the Supreme Court held that the disputed provisions were not inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution, effectively restoring the statutory requirements governing party membership registers and candidate nominations.

Under Section 77(5), only members whose names appear on a political party’s membership register submitted to INEC at least 21 days before its primary, congress, or convention can participate in the exercise.

Section 77(6) bars political parties from using a membership register different from the one submitted to INEC for their primaries, congresses, and conventions.

More consequentially, Section 77(7) provides that a political party which fails to submit its membership register within the stipulated period cannot field a candidate for the election.

The Supreme Court judgement itself did not disqualify or name any individual candidate. However, INEC’s impending interpretation and implementation of the restored provisions could determine whether parties found to have breached the statutory requirements will retain their candidates on the ballot for the 2027 elections.