Daily Independent (Lagos)
Tom Chiahemen
1 December 2008
Abuja — A draft of the new electoral constituencies in the country, based on consultations with stakeholders, is to be ready by the first quarter of next year.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Maurice Iwu, who disclosed this in Abuja at the weekend, said the commission had already stopped taking inputs from stakeholders on the impending delimitation of constituencies.
He also announced that a draft of the new voter's
register to be made public would be produced by January 2, 2009 while the map of Nigeria's wards and polling units should be ready by the next quarter.
The commission had earlier carried out a review of the nation's electoral constituencies from June 30 to August 12 with a gale of protests and petitions flooding from many communities up to last week.
National Commissioner and leader of the INEC Advisory Committee on Delimitation of Constituencies, Mohammed Jumare, had announced during the exercise that the constituencies would be reviewed in such a manner that they are near equal as reasonably possible at the levels of Senate, House of Representatives, state Assembly and registration.
Under the new arrangement, each polling unit will have a minimum of 500 voters and maximum of 700 voters, depending on the homogeneity or otherwise of the population.
The review of the constituencies was carried out based on such criteria as the 2006 population, number of registered voters and local governments, contiguity of constituencies, historical, cultural and ethnic affinity, administrative and traditional boundaries, common interest and settlement pattern.
Speaking at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) at the INEC headquarters, Iwu stressed the need to sustain the tempo of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, saying that a draft of the register which would be made public by January 2, 2009.
Commenting on the recent Appeal Court verdict that restored Adams Oshiomhole of the Action Congress (AC) as Governor of Edo State, Iwu reiterated that election tribunals were part and parcel of the electoral process.
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