The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that it is fully set for the FCT polls today, marking the first significant test of the 2026 Electoral Act recently signed by President Bola Tinubu.
Amid increased security and logistical preparations, voters are scheduled to cast their ballots around Abuja.
Bye-elections will also be held today in Rivers State to fill vacancies left by the resignation and passing of current lawmakers in the Ahoada East II and Khana II seats.
Similarly, in Kano State, elections will take place in Kano Municipal, with 330,228 voters across 630 polling units, and Ungogo constituency, with 205,418 voters across 384 polling units, following the deaths of two members of the State House of Assembly.
For the FCT poll, INEC would conduct elections across the six area councils of the FCT, involving 1,680,315 registered voters across 2,822 polling units, while also conducting bye-elections in Rivers and Kano states.
The Electoral Act 2026 introduced several reforms, including the statutory codification of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and provisions for electronic transmission of results to INEC’s Result Viewing portal, while retaining manual collation as a fallback in areas with poor network coverage.
Civil society organisations had voiced their disapproval of the hybrid gearbox system, which had triggered controversy about the new law.
Meanwhile, INEC announced that an Election Monitoring Center has been established for the FCT in order to monitor events and handle crises throughout today’s exercise.
Recall that, President Bola Tinubu yesterday urged eligible voters, security forces, and INEC representatives to behave in a civilised manner during today’s elections in the Federal Capital Territory, as well as the states of Kano and Rivers.
Additionally, Aminu Idris, the FCT Resident Electoral Commissioner, provided an update on the level of election readiness while revealing the PVC collection rate.
He disclosed that all materials, both sensitive and non-sensitive, would be sent to Registration Area Centers yesterday afternoon in order to guarantee early delivery to polling places so that the FCT polls could start at 8:30 as planned.
Idris emphasised that every Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) that will be utilised in the election has been set up and tested to ensure that voters are captured efficiently and promptly.
Also, the electoral body disclosed that FCT has recorded a 94.4 per cent collection rate of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of today’s election.
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