IEBC Unveils Full Timeline for 2027 Vote

Citizens of the country will choose a president, senators, members of the National Assembly, county women representatives, governors and members of county assemblies under the familiar electoral map of 290 constituencies and 1,450 wards. The dates appeared in a special gazette notice signed by Commission Chairperson Erastus Ethekon and published on Thursday.

Officials explained that a full review of constituency and ward boundaries could not be finished in time. Limited preparation windows, ongoing court matters linked to census figures and the heavy workload of organising a national poll combined to make a comprehensive redrawing impossible. Under the constitution, such a review must occur every eight to twelve years and be completed at least twelve months before polling day. A Supreme Court advisory issued in September 2025 clarified the legal position, while the chairperson noted that a proper exercise would have required a minimum of two years and should have been concluded by August 2026.

Political parties now face a series of firm deadlines beginning this October. Authorised representatives must be named by mid-October 2026, nomination rules certified by the end of that month and membership lists finalised by the Registrar of Political Parties in March 2027. Parties are required to publish the names of their primary contestants together with the dates and venues of those contests in early April, after which the commission will officially gazette the candidates. Primaries and any internal disputes must be settled by early May, the same point at which independent aspirants must resign from parties and lodge their details.

Further milestones include the resignation of public officers seeking office by February 2027 and the collection of supporting signatures by presidential hopefuls by late May. Formal candidate nominations will stretch from late May into mid-June, with slightly different closing dates for each category of office. Any challenges to those nominations must be lodged within twenty-four hours and resolved inside ten days. Campaigning itself may begin as early as the end of May, depending on the position, and will conclude three days before polling, restricted to daylight hours between seven in the morning and six in the evening.

Fundraising activities, including traditional community collections, are banned from early December 2026 onward. Parties must also submit their final party lists by late June 2027 and designate their chief election agents by late July. By locking in these successive checkpoints, the commission aims to give every participant clear notice and sufficient time to organise, while ensuring the existing electoral boundaries remain in force for one more national contest.