The European Union (EU) Electoral Observer Mission says Nigeria may be running against time in the push to conduct credible 2027 general elections.
This was as it called for urgent steps to fast track the ongoing electoral and constitutional reforms to make the next general election acceptable to all stakeholders and in tandem with the recommendations of both local and international observers who observed the 2023 general elections.
The EU team stated this while addressing a press conference on Friday in Abuja, stressing that the timely reforms in the constitution and election law were necessary to ensure voter confidence in the country’s electoral process.
The Head of the follow-up EU Electoral Observer Mission, Barry Andrews, emphasised the need for the country to speed-up the reforms, noting that only one out of the 23 recommendations to the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), has been fully implemented.
The EU team found that while two recommendations have been partially implemented, eight are ongoing, three are too early to determine, and nine have not been implemented.
While commending the legislature for the amendment so far in the Electoral Act 2025 and the ongoing constitutional review process, Andrews noted that time was running out.
He stressed that the country’s resilience depends on reforms that citizens can believe in.
“So, the Electoral Observation Mission final report in 2023 made 23 recommendations. 11 require legal changes and 12 are administrative in nature. The mission identified so far that one recommendation has been fully implemented. Two recommendations have been partially implemented”, he said.
