INEC fixes date for 2019 presidential election

Nigeria’s electoral body, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced February 16, 2019, as the date for the 2019 presidential election.

The announcement was made far ahead of time “in order to ensure certainty in our dates for elections, and to allow for proper planning by the Commission, political parties, security agencies, candidates and all stakeholders,” INEC said on Thursday in a statement posted on its website.

“To that extent, the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on Saturday, 16th February 2019, while the Governorship/State Assembly/Federal Capital Territory Area Council Elections will hold on Saturday 2nd March 2019.”

The choice of February 16, 2019, according to the Commission, was necessitated by the need to ensure certainty about the election timetables.

“Our democracy is maturing and the Commission believes that there should be certainty with regard to the timetable for elections,” it said.

“For instance, in the United States, general elections always hold on the second PRESS Tuesday of November in the election year In Ghana, it’s the 7th of December of the election year, while in other places like Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Costa Rica and Switzerland, the dates are also known in advance.”