Ahead of the upcoming off-cycle governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi States, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday reviewed its preparations and announced key measures for the successful conduct of the elections.
A release signed by Mr. Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner & Chairman, INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee, disclosed that there are 1,056,862 registered voters in Bayelsa State, 2,419,922 in Imo State, and 1,932,654 in Kogi State, totaling 5,409,438 registered voters across the three states.
According to the Timetable and Schedule of Activities, soft copies of the complete voter registers for each state will be provided to the political parties fielding candidates. Notably, 16 political parties are sponsoring candidates in Bayelsa State, 17 in Imo State, and all 18 parties are participating in Kogi State.
INEC invited State Chairmen of political parties or their designated representatives to attend the presentation event scheduled for 10:00am on Thursday, October 12, 2023, at the Collation Centres in the State Headquarters of the Commission in Lokoja, Owerri, and Yenagoa.
Also, in a bid to enhance the use of technology for voter accreditation and result management, INEC said it has finalized preparations for a mock accreditation of voters in the three states.
The exercise, the Commission said, will serve as a test-run for the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the upload of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
The mock accreditation of voters will occur concurrently in the three states on Saturday, October 14, 2023, from 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM. The list of designated polling units for each state has already been made available on INEC’s website and social media platforms.
INEC emphasized that this is strictly a test-run and not the actual election, adding that lessons learned from the exercise will be carefully considered to ensure the seamless deployment of both BVAS and IReV on Election Day.
The Commission urged registered voters in the selected polling units to participate by bringing their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for the exercise.
