5,409,438 to vote in Bayelsa, Kogi, Imo governorship polls – INEC
By Tunde Opalana
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Tuesday declared that 5,409,438 voters will participate in the November 11 governorship elections in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo states .
The Commission presented the voters register for the three states after its meeting in Abuja yesterday.
National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Sam Olumekun who gave a low down of registered voters in a statement said “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.”
He emphasized that 16 political parties are sponsoring candidates in Bayelsa State, 17 in Imo State and all the 18 parties in Kogi State.
As provided in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities, he said soft copies of the complete register of voters for each state will be presented to the political parties participating in the elections.
Olumekun, however said copies will be presented to representatives of the political parties.
“State Chairmen of political parties or their designated representatives are invited to attend the event which will take place at the Collation Centres in the State Headquarters of the Commission in Lokoja, Owerri and Yenagoa on Thursday 12th October 2023 at 10.00am.
The Commission also announced that mock accreditation of voters will take place this weekend in the three states.
He said “in furtherance of our commitment to deepen the deployment of technology for voter accreditation and result management, the Commission has finalised preparations for mock accreditation of voters in the three States to test-run the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and upload of polling units results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
“The exercise will take place simultaneously in the three States on Saturday 14th October 2023 from 8.30am to 2.30pm.
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“The list of designated polling units for each State has already been uploaded to our website and social media platforms.
“Lessons learnt from the 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.”
The Commission appealed to registered voters in the selected polling units to turn up with their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) for the exercise.
