Fact Check: Igini’s Claim Incorrect, Ballot Paper Validation in Electoral Act 2026 Existed in 2022 Law

Mike Igini, a former resident electoral commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has claimed that the Electoral Act 2026 contains a new provision granting presiding officers the discretion to accept or reject ballot papers that do not bear the official mark prescribed by the electoral body.

President Bola Tinubu signed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026 into law on February 18, after the national assembly passed it.

The new law replaces the Electoral Act 2022, introducing fresh provisions while retaining several existing sections.

THE CLAIM:

Speaking during an interview on ARISE News on Wednesday, Igini said section 63 of the Electoral Act 2026, which deals with ballot papers, grants excessive discretion to presiding officers.

A presiding officer, better known as a PO, is the primary election official responsible for managing a polling station on election day.

Section 63 (1) of the law states that “ballot paper which does not bear the official mark prescribed by the Commission shall not be counted”.

Subsection 2 further stipulates that “where the returning officer is satisfied that a ballot paper which does not bear the official mark was from a book of ballot papers which was furnished to the Presiding Officer of the polling unit in which the vote was cast for use at the election in question, he or she shall, notwithstanding the absence of the official mark, count that ballot paper”.

Igini described the aforementioned section as a new “dangerous” provision which “reintroduces” a clause allowing ballot papers without official marks to be counted if the presiding officer is “satisfied” with their origin.

He said the use of the word “satisfied” gives presiding officers excessive discretion, allowing them to accept ballot papers without official security features, adding that this could encourage politicians to print fake ballot papers for elections.

The former INEC official said the provision was removed in the Electoral Act 2022 after years of controversy, but has now been reintroduced in the new law.

“Section 63, which I just discovered, they have now reintroduced something very terrible. You can see it there that the ballot paper that would be used for the 2027 election that does not bear the official security features of INEC should be accepted by the presiding officer,” he said.

“The word satisfied which was contained in section 49 of the 2010 Act, took us 20 years until 2022 to remove. What is the objection condition to determine what satisfies a presiding officer?

“The presiding officer has now been given the discretion to accept a ballot paper notwithstanding the absence of the official mark and to count that ballot paper.

“What this means is that before this election (2027), politicians who now have access to the security features of INEC ballot will print their ballot papers that have to be accepted. This is dangerous as put in the Electoral Act.”

VERIFICATION

A review and comparison of section 63 of the Electoral Act 2022 shows that the exact provision was carried over to the new law.

There is no evidence that the clause was removed in 2022 or newly introduced in a later amendment.

The only difference in subsection (2) is that the Electoral Act 2022 used “if” to introduce the provision, while the 2026 version uses “where.”

VERDICT

Igini’s claim that a “dangerous” provision has been introduced into section 63 of the electoral law is false.

The provision was retained from the Electoral Act 2022, which governed the conduct of the 2023 elections.