• Charges directors ahead of 2019 election
Ahead of the September 10 governorship polls, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will tomorrow publish the candidates and their political parties.
The commission in a statement yesterday added it would also publish the official voters’ register the same day.
This decision is in line with “Section 20 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), which provides that the Register of Voters for an election shall be published not less than 30 days before the election.”
“Also, Section 34 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) provides that the list of nominated candidates shall be published within the stipulated time,” the statement read in part.
For the Ondo governorship election, the commission said it would publish the notice of election on August 26.
It added that the commencement of campaigns by political parties would be on August 28, which is 90 days to the election as stipulated under Section 99 (1) of the Electoral Act.
The INEC also said it would begin the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in the state, two weeks to the election.
The new PVCs, he said, arose from the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise conducted in the state from June 22 to 26.
Meanwhile, INEC Directors and Deputy Directors have been charged to learn, understand and own the innovations being introduced to the electoral process, as the commission prepares for the 2019 general elections.
National Commissioner, Dr. Mohammed Mustapha Lecky, made the call while speaking at the opening of a two-day presentation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects to the directors at the INEC Headquarters in Abuja yesterday.
He explained that the 2015 amendment to the Electoral Act had given the commission a significant room to introduce and deploy more technology to consolidate on the gains of introducing ICT in the 2015 general elections.
Lecky said: “There is no gainsaying the fact that the 2015 elections have been adjudged the best in the history of our country.”
This, he added, is attributed to the introduction of technology, particularly the PVCs and the Smart Card Reader which transformed the electoral landscape and for which lots of accolade were received by Nigeria worldwide.”
