According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, more than 5.4 million people have registered to vote in the Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa state governorship elections scheduled for November 11.
Sam Olumekun, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Committee on Information and Voter Education, said this in a statement on Tuesday.
Today, Tuesday, October 10, 2023, marked the commission’s normal meeting. Among other things, the group discussed the planning for the off-cycle governorship elections in the states of Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi.
“A total of 5,409,438 registered voters for the three states are there for the next elections: 1,056 862 in Bayelsa State, 2,419,922 in Imo State, and 1,932,654 in Kogi State,” stated Olumekun.
He said that the political parties taking part in the elections would receive soft copies of the whole voter registration list for each state.
“For emphasis, all eighteen political parties in Kogi State, seventeen in Imo State, and sixteen in Bayelsa State are sponsoring candidates,” he continued.
The ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. in the Collation Centers in the state headquarters of the commission in Lokoja, Owerri, and Yenagoa. State chairmen of political parties or their chosen representatives are invited to attend.
Olumekun further stated that the commission has completed the arrangements for the mock accreditation of voters in the three states to test-run the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and upload polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal, furthering INEC’s commitment to deepening the deployment of technology for voter accreditation and result management.
The exercise is scheduled for Saturday, October 14, 2023, from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm in each of the three states concurrently.
We have already posted the list of each state’s designated voting places on our website and social media accounts.
“The exercise’s lessons learned will be taken into account to guarantee the BVAS and IReV deploy smoothly on election day. This isn’t the real election—this is just a test run.
He said, “The commission is urging registered voters in the chosen polling units to show up for the exercise with their Permanent Voters Cards once again.”
He also disclosed that, for the November 11 governorship elections, INEC had credentialed 119 domestic and 8 foreign observers.
