The Independent National Electoral Commission has outlined its expectations from Civil Society Organizations as it prepares for the upcoming off-cycle governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States.
INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, stated the commission’s position at the second quarterly consultative meeting with CSOs in 2024, held at the INEC Conference Room in Abuja on Tuesday.
The commission’s chairman informed the CSOs of plans to resume the Continuous Voter Registration and appealed for their support in mobilizing prospective registrants, emphasizing the importance of early registration to avoid last-minute rushes at registration centers, according to NewsDiary.
He made an appeal “to CSOs to join in mobilising prospective registrants for the exercise, particularly on the need to register early and not wait until the deadline approaches when the registration centres will be inundated by eleventh hour registrants.”
He continued, “In addition to the registration of voters, the Commission will also make available the uncollected Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) for collection during the CVR. In the coming days, the list of uncollected PVCs will be published in our offices in the two States and simultaneously uploaded to our website. We believe doing so will make it easier for voters to collect their PVCs. However, no PVCs will be collected by proxy. Registered voters should come in person to collect their cards. Again, we seek for the support of CSOs in encouraging voters to locate and pick up their PVCs as was done in the past.”
He added, “Still on our preparations for the two Governorship elections, the Commission has published the final list of candidates for the Edo Governorship election following the conclusion of party primaries and the end of the period for withdrawal and substitution of candidates as provided in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election. Campaign in public by political parties commenced on Wednesday 24th April 2024 and will end at midnight on Thursday 19th September 2024 i.e. 24 hours before the date fixed for the election as provided by law. We look forward to your monitoring reports of the campaigns as some of you have done in the past.”
Prof. Yakubu further said, “As we inch closer to Election Day in Edo State, it is also imperative to remind CSOs of the need to submit your applications for election observation in earnest along with the required supporting documents and a realistic number of individual observers. Doing so will enable the Commission to produce and deliver the identity cards for observers in good time.
“The Commission will not entertain requests outside the deadline for the receipt of applications from interested observer groups or process applications that do not meet the criteria.
the INEC Chairman emphasised the importance of observer reports from CSOs that participated in previous elections.Yakubu said, “For emphasis, submission of reports from previous accreditation in the manner required by the Commission is mandatory for continuous participation in election observation. Since our last meeting two months ago, many accredited observers have submitted their reports but a few are yet to do so. We urge you to do the needful. Your reports are important for us in reviewing and improving our processes and procedures.”
