INEC Schedules Mock Voting for November 28, 2026

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that it will conduct a nationwide mock accreditation and voting exercise on November 28, 2026. This exercise aims to test upgrades to its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and electronic results transmission in preparation for the 2027 general elections.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, made this announcement during a dialogue at Chatham House in London, organized with the Kimpact Development Initiative. He emphasized that the mock exercise would simulate the presidential election and help assess the effectiveness of the commission's systems.

Amupitan also revealed that technical safeguards have been introduced to prevent inaccuracies in polling unit results and over-voting from being uploaded to the Result Viewing Portal. He noted that a post-2023 audit identified collation centres as the primary source of election result management issues.

Additionally, INEC is constructing climate-controlled storage for BVAS devices and has procured more machines, reducing the maximum number of voters per device from 1,250 to 850. Amupitan expressed optimism about the timely release of outstanding election funding.