SAYS IT HAS ACCREDITED A TOTAL OF 137,973 POLLING, COLLATION AGENTS FOR THE THREE STATES
By Vincess Okushi
Furtherance to the preparations for the three off-cycle Governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi States, the Commission says it’s making available two publications such as the Information Booklet and List of Polling and Collation Agents
A statement by Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner & Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, on Tuesday 7th November 2023 revealed that the publication contains an infographic summary of registered voters and Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) collected by Local Government Areas (LGAs) as well as the distribution of registered voters by gender, age group, occupation, and disability.
According to him, The publication also includes the list of candidates and detailed information on the two polling units in Bayelsa and 38 in Imo State without registered voters. The Commission has repeatedly said that elections will not be held in these polling units. No materials have been produced for these locations and no officials will be deployed to them.
Sixteen political parties are sponsoring candidates for the election in Bayelsa State and 18 in both Imo and Kogi States. The elections will be held in 10,470 polling units (excluding the 40 polling units without registered voters).
Each political party is expected to nominate polling agents for all the polling units as well as 649 Ward, 56 LGA, and three State collation centers.
However, at the close of the deadline for uploading the list of agents to the INEC dedicated portal by political parties, 34,704 agents were uploaded for Bayelsa State, 65,274 for Imo State, and 37,995 for Kogi State, making a total of 137,973 polling and collation agents for the three States.
The Commission however regrets the non-nomination of agents by some political parties to polling units and collation centers across the states despite having candidates in the election.
“However, the detailed breakdown shows that not all the parties nominated agents for the polling and collation centers across the States. Indeed, some political parties have no polling unit or collation agents in some States despite having candidates in the election.
The information booklet as well as the comprehensive summary of the agents and their distribution by polling units as well the Ward, LGA, and State collation centres have been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information. The statement ended.
