INEC to suspend continuous voter registration on August 17

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would suspend the ongoing Continuous Voter registration (CVR) exercise on August 17, 2018 until after the 2019 general elections.

The commission however, said collection of PVCs (Permanent Voter Cards) would continue until a week to the commencement of the elections on February 16, 2019.

In a statement made available to The Guardian, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Prince Solomon Adedeji Soyebi, said the commission had been consulting with major stakeholders, including political parties, leading media, civil society organisations and security agencies.

During the consultations, several important and urgent matters were discussed, particularly the ongoing CVR, matters arising from the collection and alleged cloning of PVCs, preparations for Ekiti, Osun governorship and 2019 polls.

He said stakeholders expressed satisfaction with INEC’s preparedness for the 2019 poll, especially the progressive improvements made to the electoral process, remarking that the commission was enjoined to do more to ensure free, fair and credible elections.

On the CVR, Soyebi said stakeholders stressed the need for INEC to comply with statutory timelines and unanimously agreed that sufficient time be given between the capture of data, processing and production of PVCs.

He added: “Given the backend activities necessary for this, the commission, acting on the recommendations of stakeholders and taking into consideration the statutory obligations to end the revision, update, certification and publication of the register of voters for the general elections, has decided to suspend the ongoing CVR at 3pm on Friday August 17, 2018 until after the general election.”