Off-cycle polls: 5.4m Nigerians to vote in Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi, says INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says 5,409,438 Nigerians are expected vote in the upcoming off-cycle elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states.

The elections are scheduled to hold on November 11.

In a statement on Tuesday, the commission said soft copies of the complete register of voters for each state will be presented to the political parties participating in the elections on Thursday.

“For emphasis, 16 political parties are sponsoring candidates in Bayelsa State, 17 in Imo State and all the 18 parties in Kogi State,” the statement reads.

“For the forthcoming elections, there are 1,056 862 registered voters in Bayelsa State; 2,419,922 in Imo State; and 1,932,654 in Kogi State, making a combined total of 5,409,438 registered voters for the three States.

“State Chairmen of political parties or their designated representatives are invited to attend the event which will take place at the Collation Centres in the State Headquarters of the Commission in Lokoja, Owerri and Yenagoa on Thursday 12th October 2023 at 10.00am.”

INEC also said it has finalised preparations for mock accreditation of voters in the three states to test-run the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) and upload of polling units results to the INEC result viewing portal (IReV).

“The exercise will take place simultaneously in the three States on Saturday 14th October 2023 from 8.30am to 2.30pm,” the commission added.

“The list of designated polling units for each State has already been uploaded to our website and social media platforms.

“Lessons learnt from the exercise will be taken into consideration to ensure the seamless deployment of both the BVAS and IReV on Election Day. This is strictly a test-run and not the actual election.

“Once again, the Commission appeals to registered voters in the selected polling units to turn up with their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) for the exercise.”