By Vincess Okushi
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is raising an alarming figure of just 32.3% of agents required for the upcoming ONDO state governorship election.
Noting significant gaps in the electoral process as some parties fail to nominate agents at any level.
Revealing the surprising statistics on political party submissions of polling and collation agents for the State Governorship election to the press on October 4, 2024, Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner and Chairman of INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee said the portal for uploading agents, opened on August 20, 2024, closed automatically at midnight on September 30, 2024.
Stressing that less than a third of the expected number of agents have been submitted by participating parties.
Out of the 74,790 agents we anticipated from the 18 political parties fielding candidates, only 24,148 were uploaded to the portal.
The agents were required to cover Ondo State’s 3,933 polling units and 222 collation centers, spread across 203 ward centers, 18 Local Government Areas, and the state collation center in Akure.
Despite repeated reminders to political parties, only 22,689 polling agents, 1,249 ward agents, 196 Local Government agents, and 14 state collation agents were uploaded.
Olumekun hinted that three political parties failed to submit agents at all.
This low submission rate is a cause for concern. The absence of agents from political parties could potentially impact the transparency and accountability of the election process. Olumekun stated.
He, however, revealed that a detailed breakdown of the submissions is available on INEC’s website and social media platforms for public review while expressing the Commission’s determination to conduct a credible and transparent election, buttressing the critical role of political party agents to ensure a smooth process.
The Ondo State Governorship election is set for November 16, 2024, with all eyes on how the parties respond to this gap in their election preparations.
