INEC asks presidential candidates to keep to deadline for naming running mates

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has restated that June 17 is the deadline for political parties to submit list of candidates for — president, vice-president, senate and house of representatives — ahead of the 2023 general election.

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, spoke on Thursday while providing updates on the commission’s activities in Abuja.

This implies that presidential candidates are expected to name their running mates before June 17.

The commission had extended the deadline for primaries by six days — from June 3 to June 9, but it is restating that the deadline for submitting names of candidates remains June 17.

“I wish to reassure Nigerians that the Commission remains committed to ensuring that all citizens who wish to register are given the opportunity to do so,” he said.

“This is one of the reasons why this meeting has been convened. Already, some of the Resident Electoral Commissioners have requested for more voter registration machines to ease the congestion.

“The commission will deploy additional machines to areas of need immediately. Thereafter, the commission will meet to review the progress of the exercise and take further decisions.

“We will always respond positively to the needs of Nigerians and therefore appeal to all citizens to be patient with the commission as we strive to serve them better. We appreciate the desire of Nigerians to register as voters. Let me reassure all eligible registrants that no one will be left out.

“Turning to the nomination of candidates by political parties for the 2023 general election, all primaries end today Thursday 9th June 2022.

“For the next one week from tomorrow 10th June 2022, all political parties are required to submit their list of candidates for national elections — presidential/vice-presidential, senatorial and house of representatives) latest by Friday 17th June 2022.”

The INEC chairman added that political parties  are expected to submit the names of governorship candidates and their running mates between July 1 and 15.

“For state elections (governorship/deputy governorship and state houses of assembly), the list of candidates shall be uploaded from 1st to 15th July 2022 as already provided in the timetable and schedule of activities for the 2023 general election already released by the commission,” he said.

“All Political Parties are required to upload the details of their candidates for each constituency to the INEC Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP).

“To achieve this objective, four officials recommended by each of the 18 political parties were trained on the procedure for uploading the nomination forms to the dedicated web portal. Confidential Access Codes to the portal have already been given to each Political Party to facilitate the uploading of its nominations.

“For emphasis, the commission wishes to remind political parties that only the names of candidates that emerged from democratic primaries as provided by Sec. 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 shall be submitted to the Commission.

“Similarly, the list of all presidential and governorship candidates must be accompanied by the names of their running mates — presidential and deputy governorship candidates — without which the nomination is invalid. All nominations must be uploaded to the portal on or before the deadlines.