INEC: We’ll suspend online voter pre-registration on May 30

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will suspend the online voter pre-registration exercise on May 30.

INEC had said the online pre-registration and physical registration will subsist simultaneously until the CVR exercise is suspended on June 30, 2022.

But speaking on Wednesday at the second quarterly meeting with civil society organisations for 2022, Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, said the online pre-registration will end in May.

He said this would give time to those who registered online to complete their registration physically and would enable the commission to clean up the registration data.

“As you are aware, the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise ends next month i.e. 30th June 2022. Both the online pre-registration as well as the physical registration at designated centres are taking place simultaneously,” he said.

“However, online pre-registrants would require time to schedule appointments to complete their registration physically at designated centers. For this reason, the commission has decided to suspend the online registration in the next three weeks, that is, May 30, 2022.

“This will enable the online registrants to complete their registration physically at the designated centres before the exercise is suspended on June 30, 2022. This will enable the commission to clean up the registration data, print the permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) and compile the register ahead of the 2023 general election.”