INEC set to announce date for bye-elections in six states
Sequel the demise of elected members of the National Assembly, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has disclosed the Commission’s poise to announce dates for conduct of bye-elections into vacant seats.
He disclosed this during the third regular quarterly consultative meeting with political parties held at the Commission’s Headquarters in Abuja.
Yakubu said the Commission initially had four states to conduct the elections, but was later informed by the House of Representatives about two vacant seats in Oyo and Kaduna owing to the deaths of the members of the House of Representatives.
“Turning to the issue of bye-elections, you may recall that at our last meeting, I informed you of the existence of vacancies in four States, involving three state constituencies and one federal constituency,” he said
“Since then, two more vacancies have been declared by the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives following the death of the members representing Ibadan North Federal Constituency of Oyo State and the Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency of Kaduna State. The Commission will soon announce the dates for the bye-elections,” he added.
The INEC boss noted that following the conclusion of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), the display of the register for claims and objections by citizens and further data clean-up using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), the final register for the 2024 Governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States were being finalised.
He said that before the end of this week, the Commission would publish the final figures of new voters in the two states as well as their distribution by gender, age, occupation and disability. He added that thereafter, the timetable for the collection of uncollected Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) from previous registration and new registrants from the latest CVR would be published.
“The Commission is aware that going by our timetable and schedule of activities, the register of voters will be published not later than 30 days before the date fixed for the election. We wish to reassure the chairmen of political parties that each party fielding candidates in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State will receive the softcopy of the register on 20th August 2024, while that of Ondo State will take place on 15th October 2024.
“As at yesterday, Sunday 28th July 2024, 14 political parties have uploaded the details of 38,354 polling agents and 819 collation agents for the Edo State governorship election. Three parties are yet to upload a single polling agent while five parties have not uploaded a single agent for Ward, Local Government and State collation centers. The deadline is tomorrow Tuesday 30th July 2024 when the portal automatically shuts down at midnight,” Yakubu said.
” He urged the party chairmen to ensure they meet the deadline to enable the Commission produce the accreditation tags and deliver them to them for prompt distribution to their agents.
