Senate Passes Electoral Act amendment bill

• To end conflicting court rulings in pre-election cases

Nigerian senate has passed an amendment to the Electoral Act, 2026, seeking to provide definitive jurisdiction for pre-election matters and eliminate conflicting court rulings arising from candidate nomination disputes.

The bill, sponsored by Simon Lalong, senator representing Plateau south, and chairman of the senate committee on electoral matters, scaled second and third readings on Thursday.

The legislation seeks to curb “forum shopping”, a practice where litigants file cases in multiple courts across different states to obtain favourable rulings on the same internal party disputes.

The amendment designates specific courts to handle pre-election matters in a bid to prevent contradictory judgments from courts of coordinate jurisdiction.

It also seeks to stream- line the resolution of disputes arising from party primaries and ensure that the legal status of candidates is settled before general election.

Lawmakers said the amendment would reinforce timelines for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to finalise candidate lists and create greater stability for election planning.

The amendment marks the first major adjustment to the Electoral Act, 2026 signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on February 18.

While the 2026 Act focuses on the statutory integration of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) and electronic transmission of results, senators said judicial ambiguities surrounding pre-election suits required urgent clarification.

THREAT To DEMOCRACY

Leading debate on the bill, Lalong said democracy depended not only on elections but also on the credibility and predictability of the legal framework preceding them. “Democracy thrives not merely on the conduct of elections, but also on the credibility, certainty, and predictability of the legal process that precedes the post-election,” he said. “The discrepancy of candidates and the integrity of party primaries are foundational pillars of representative democracy.