SATURDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2026 · ANALYSIS
Election Readiness Requires More Than Completing Party Primaries
Candidate selection is one task; registration, access, logistics and dispute resolution remain separate tests.
The completion of a party congress can create a powerful image of momentum. It identifies candidates, fills party offices and produces a result to announce. None of those acts, however, establishes that the electorate is registered or that polling can reach communities safely.
RJMEC’s recent warning about political and security gaps and the Civil Society Forum’s call for dialogue should be assessed against measurable preparations. Their concerns are institutional assessments, not decisions that cancel an election. The useful public debate is about the evidence of readiness behind the competing positions.
The first test is the voter. An accessible registration process must tell eligible people where to go, what is required and how errors can be corrected. Population projections can help estimate demand for services, but they cannot name the people entitled to cast a ballot.
The second test is access. Candidates need a practical opportunity to campaign, and displaced people need an explained route to participation. Security arrangements should protect political activity under consistent rules. A directive issued on paper is evidence of a policy, not yet evidence of even-handed enforcement.
The third test is delivery. A calendar needs resources, procurement, trained staff, materials and a plan for transport. Publicly reporting progress against those stages would help distinguish an achievable timetable from a statement of intention. This analysis has no comprehensive verified readiness audit and does not manufacture a national completion percentage.
The fourth test is remedy. Voters and contestants need a known place to challenge exclusion, correct a register or dispute a result, with decisions made in time to matter. Confidence is stronger when the procedure is clear before a dispute arises.
An evidence-based readiness dashboard would publish each milestone, responsible institution, target date and supporting document. That would allow government, parties and civil society to argue from a common record. The value of a primary result is real but limited: it answers who a party wants to nominate, while the national electoral system must answer how citizens can choose.
Sources and reporting basis
Prepared from available material for this edition. Follow-up questions identify reporting priorities; they have not been sent as requests by SSP.