‘Parties Have Until July 11 To Upload Candidates’ List’ – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has begun training representatives of political parties to use its online nomination portal ahead of the 2027 general elections.

According to INEC, political parties have until July 11, 2026, to upload nominations for presidential and National Assembly candidates.

A top INEC source who spoke with Vanguard said it was too early to determine the level of compliance by political parties, adding that the commission was still engaging them.

“We are interfacing with them. They have until July 11 to finish their uploads. It’s too early to talk about compliance or otherwise.

“The ICT personnel of the parties know the processes of uploading the required details. Last Thursday and Friday, we had a training for representatives of political parties.

“If they have challenges, our personnel are on standby to assist. It’s nothing difficult.”

INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, dismissed claims that some parties had not received access codes.

“Any party claiming that they do not have the access codes, ask them if they were at the training on Thursday and Friday. Were they expecting to have been given codes without the training?

“The training continues and if by Monday they have not got the codes, then they can now make such claims,” she said.

According to INEC’s revised timetable, the portal for submission of Forms EC9 and EC9A to EC9E opened at 9 am on Saturday, June 27, 2026, and will close at 6pm on July 11, 2026, for presidential and National Assembly candidates.

For governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates, the portal will open on July 18, 2026, and close on August 8, 2026.

INEC said the exercise is in line with Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, which requires that candidate nominations be submitted no later than 120 days before the election.