Tomorrow is the first election under Nigeria's new electoral law. Here's what to watch for.

1.68 million voters in Abuja's six area councils vote tomorrow for the FCT Area Council elections. It's a local government election. Low stakes for most people.

Except it's the first election held under the Electoral Act 2026, signed into law on February 18, two days ago. And that makes tomorrow a stress test.

The new law requires results to be uploaded to INEC's IReV portal directly from polling units. That's the improvement everyone wanted. But it also contains a clause that allows manual collation using Form EC8A if electronic transmission "fails." No definition of failure. No independent certification required. No penalty attached to officials who declare it.

INEC already had to clarify this week that it never promised "real-time" transmission. That clarification came before the first vote was cast. Which tells you the commission already expects the question.

Here's what to watch tomorrow evening. Do polling unit results appear on IReV, and do they match the collated totals? If yes, the law is working. If "network failures" cluster in contested wards and results drift during collation, you'll know exactly which clause was used and how.

This matters beyond Abuja. The FCT election planning window was cut from 12 to 6 months under the new law. The 2027 general elections run on the same framework. Tomorrow is the proof of concept.

Watch IReV.