Supreme Court reserves judgment in INEC, ZLP legal battle on Electoral Act provisions

The Supreme Court has decided to defer a ruling in a legal dispute between the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) over certain provisions of the 2026 Electoral Act. The appeal, recorded as SC/CR/495/2026, was launched by INEC against a previous Court of Appeal decision that had voided specific clauses of the Electoral Act pertaining to political party primaries and membership registers.

These contentious sections are Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2), which deal with the registration process of political party members and the nomination of candidates through direct primaries or consensus. The Zenith Labour Party initially challenged these provisions at the Federal High Court in Abuja, alleging that they infringed upon the 1999 Constitution and were unconstitutional intrusions in party affairs.

Anchored in Sections 221 and 222 of the 1999 Constitution, which govern the governance of political parties, the ZLP argued that the Electoral Act provisions were in conflict with constitutional law. However, the Federal High Court dismissed the party's case on May 5, 2026. The ZLP appealed this ruling to the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, whose July 16, 2026 judgment upheld the voiding of the Electoral Act sections.

INEC, dissatisfied with this outcome, appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. The apex court will now need to decide whether the Court of Appeal's judgment was correct to invalidate the Electoral Act provisions or if the statutory requirements should be upheld.