Written by Dayo Johnson
Ahead of the Ondo State gubernatorial election on November 16, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has pledged to conduct credible, transparent and inclusive elections in the state.
REC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Oluwatoyin Babalola, who gave the assurance in Akure at the weekend, said 58,708 new voters had been added to the electoral roll in preparation for the governorship election.
The REC noted that 3,132 voters transferred their registration to Ondo State and 123 voters transferred their registration outside the state.
She said: “According to the latest voter statistics, more than 2,053,061 people will take part in the next election.
“The breakdown includes 1,034,006 male voters, 1,019,055 female voters, 726,944 young voters, 721,982 middle-aged voters, more than 441,516 elderly voters, and 162,619 elderly voters. Includes 1,782 people with disabilities.
“The three political parties have no representation at all levels of voting and collation.
“INEC is fully committed to conducting credible, transparent and inclusive elections in Ondo State.”
Commenting on the registration exercise, Babalola said: “The distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) from the Continuing Voter Registration (CVR) exercise will begin soon.
Babalola urged all registered voters who have not yet collected their PVCs from the previous registration drive to do so, adding that the process was ongoing at the local council offices.
The commission will establish PVC collection centers in all Registered Areas (RAs) and local government areas to simplify the collection process and ease access, it added.
She said: “Qualified candidates will be invited for training. Mr Babalola said an extensive capacity building workshop had been conducted for INEC staff and more training sessions were ongoing.
“Members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who make up the majority of poll workers, have undergone 13 weeks of training to prepare for their role.
“INEC has intensified voter education campaigns across the state and collaborated with various organizations to prevent voter apathy.
“A key innovation in elections is the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Certification System (BVAS), which will be used for voter certification at all 3,933 polling stations in the state.”
Regarding the security system, REC said: “INEC is working with the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to ensure a safe environment for all election stakeholders.”
“Security personnel will be deployed at all polling stations, collation centers and strategic locations to prevent all forms of election fraud and violence.”
