The European Union will reportedly not deploy a full election observation mission to Nigeria for the 2027 general election, potentially ending more than two decades of extensive EU monitoring of elections in Africa’s most populous country.
The bloc cited growing security concerns and what it described as hostile treatment of its officials following the 2023 elections, Nigeria’s Daily Sun reported on Monday.
Rather than deploying observers across the country as it has done during previous election cycles, the EU is expected to maintain only a small team in Abuja to follow developments and report to Brussels, according to the report.
If maintained, the decision would mark a significant shift in the EU’s engagement with Nigeria’s electoral process.
The bloc has deployed election observation missions to Nigeria for every general election since 2003, making the country one of its longest-running election observation engagements in Africa.
