As the 2027 general elections inch closer, the International Republican Institute (IRI) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct further stress tests and mock elections to identify potential challenges with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing (IReV).

Also, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) charged the commission to disclose and publish political contribution limits or political parties.

This was as the Young Progressive Party called on the electoral umpire to extend the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, warning that eligible Nigerians who had yet to register risk being excluded from participating in the 2027 general elections.

IRI, a non-profit, non-partisan organisation focused on promoting democracy and freedom globally, deployed a pre-election assessment mission to Nigeria from August 17 to 21, 2026, to assess the electoral environment and preparations for the January 16, 2027 general elections.

Presenting the mission’s report at the weekend, IRI Regional Director, Africa, Jenai Cox Dye-Fraser, said the additional tests should assess BVAS performance under different real-life conditions.

“This includes ensuring that BVAS can accredit voters by fingerprint and photo collection in various real-life settings, including areas with limited cellular connectivity,” she said.

Dye-Fraser also called on INEC to establish clearer procedures for dealing with communication failures during the electronic transmission of election results.

She urged the commission to issue supplementary guidelines defining communication failure and establishing uniform procedures for documenting and resolving electronic results transmission failures.

“The guidance should explain when physical Form EC8A becomes the primary basis for collation and how discrepancies between physical and electronic records will be reconciled,” she said.

The IRI official further urged INEC to clarify the procedures governing its power to review declarations and returns under Section 65 of the Electoral Act, including the grounds for review and standards for decision-making.

MEANWHILE, SERAP, in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request at the weekend, signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, urged the INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, to disclose whether the commission had exercised its statutory power under Section 91 of the Electoral Act, 2026 to prescribe limits on political contributions.

The organisation also asked the electoral body to publish the applicable limits and communicate them to political parties, candidates, donors and the public.

SERAP urged INEC to disclose the systems, personnel and procedures it had put in place to monitor, investigate and enforce compliance with political contribution and campaign expenditure limits during the 2027 electoral process.

It also asked the commission to disclose its methodology for monitoring political financing, including measures for identifying and addressing cash and in-kind contributions, digital and social-media financing, third-party expenditure and donations through intermediaries that could potentially circumvent statutory limits.

According to SERAP, greater transparency in political financing is essential to ensuring that the 2027 elections are conducted on a level-playing field and that citizens can make free and informed political choices.

The organisation said INEC’s constitutional responsibility went beyond receiving financial statements from political parties, noting that the Constitution requires the commission to examine party finances, conduct necessary investigations and report to the National Assembly.

YPP’S call was contained in a statement issued on Sunday and jointly signed by its Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chapter Chairman, Abraham Adedotun, and the FCT senatorial candidate, Blessing Benyeogor.

The party stated: “The closure of the registration exercise could disenfranchise many Nigerians, particularly young people who had yet to complete the registration process.”

The YPP said its demand followed concerns raised by political actors and civil society groups over access to voter registration and the need to ensure that eligible citizens were not excluded from the electoral process.

It urged INEC to consider the concerns of Nigerians who were unable to register and explore measures to give them another opportunity to be captured on the voter register.