Nigeria: 5.4 Million Voters to Vote in Bayelsa Imo, Kogi Governorship Elections - INEC

10 October 2023

The off-cycle governorship elections hold in the three states on 11 November.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it expects 5.4 million voters to vote in the three off-cycle governorship elections holding on 11 November in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo States.

Of the figure, 1.05 million voters are in Bayelsa; 2.4 million are in Imo and two million are in Kogi.

Sam Olumekun, national commissioner and chairman, of INEC's Information and Voter Education Committee, stated in Abuja that the commission reviewed its preparations for the elections in the three states on Tuesday.

He assured that electronic copies of the complete register of voters for each state would be given to political parties participating in the elections.

"Sixteen political parties are sponsoring candidates in Bayelsa; 17 political parties are doing the same in Imo, while 18 parties are fielding candidates in Kogi.

"State chairmen of political parties or their representatives are invited to attend the presentation of the registers on October 12 at INEC's offices in Lokoja, Owerri and Yenagoa at 10 a.m.," he stated.

He added that INEC had finalised arrangements for mock accreditation of voters in the three states in furtherance of its commitment to deepen the deployment of technology for voter accreditation and result management.

The mock exercise, he explained, would test-run the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and upload polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

"The exercise will take place simultaneously in the three states on Saturday, October 14 from 8.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m.

"The list of designated polling units for each state has already been uploaded to INEC's website and social media platforms.

"Lessons learnt from the mock exercise will be taken into consideration to ensure the seamless deployment of both the BVAS and IReV on Election Day.

"This is strictly a test run and not the actual election," Mr Olumekun stated.

He appealed to registered voters in the selected polling units to turn up with their Permanent Voter Cards for the mock exercise.

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