The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that approximately 5.4 million voters have been registered ahead of the upcoming November 11 governorship elections in Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo States.
This was made known in a statement on Tuesday by INEC’s National Commissioner of Chairman of the organization’s Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun.
“The Commission held its regular meeting today, Tuesday 10th October 2023 and, among other issues, reviewed preparations for the off-cycle Governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States.
“For the forthcoming elections, there are 1,056,862 registered voters in Bayelsa State; 2,419,922 in Imo State; and 1,932,654 in Kogi State, making a combined total of 5,409,438 registered voters for the three states,” Olumekun said.
According to him, political parties running in the elections will receive soft copies of the entire voter register for each state.
The National Commissioner added that “In Bayelsa State, 16 political parties are sponsoring candidates; in Imo State, 17; and in Kogi State, all 18 parties are sponsoring candidates.
“State Chairmen of political parties or their designated representatives are invited to attend the event, which will take place at the Collation Centers in the State Headquarters of the Commission in Lokoja, Owerri, and Yenagoa on Thursday 12th October 2023 at 10.00 am,” he said.
Olumekun added that as part of the commission’s ongoing commitment to furthering the use of technology for voter accreditation and result management, planning for mock voter accreditation in the three states has been completed to test the functionality of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the upload of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
According to the National Commissioner, the exercise will be conducted concurrently in the three states on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., adding that the list of designated polling units for each state has been uploaded to its website and social media platforms.
The commission also implored registered voters to participate in the election by showing up at the polls with their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).
