By CHARLES IWUOHA

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it would commence the display of voters register today, Wednesday, 12 June, 2024 ahead of Edo and Ondo governorship elections.

The commission said the publication of preliminary register of new voters is for claims and objections in the two states.

This was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun.

Olumekun stated that the meeting was to reviewed preparations for the Edo and Ondo governorship elections, particularly the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in the two States which was suspended on Sunday, June 9, 2024.

According to him, “The next step as provided by Section 19 of the Electoral Act 2022 is the display of the register for claims and objections by citizens for a period of seven days (one week) from tomorrow, Wednesday 12th June 2024.

“The display will take place in all the 395 Wards across the two States. The register will also be available on our website:

https://cvr.inecnigeria.org/register.

“The purpose of the display is for the public to identify any ineligible persons on the register, draw the Commission’s attention to it and file an objection to the appearance of the name on the register by completing Forms EC2 and EC3 available from our officials in all the centres.

“The Forms can also be downloaded from our website – https://inecnigeria.org/?page_id=13655 – and handed over to our officials as provided in Section 9(4) of the Electoral Act 2022.

“Furthermore, fresh registrants and applicants for transfer, correction of personal details and replacement of lost or damaged PVCs can draw the Commission’s attention to errors or wrong entries for further action.

“At the end of the period for claims and objections, the Commission will further clean up the register using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) before the list of new voters is added to the existing register for the two States.

“Meanwhile, statistics from the CVR as at Sunday 9th June, 2024 when the registration was suspended, indicates a total of 269,992 new voters in the two States. Of this figure, 129,246 (47.87%) are males while 140,756 (52.13%) are females. Still, the majority of the registered voters (182,541 or 67.61%) are youths (18-34 years). In terms of occupation, 95,463 or 35.36%) are students while 1,588 (0.59%) are Persons with Disability (PWDs). In addition, 24,454 requests for replacement of PVCs, 74,493 applications for voter transfer and 8,314 for information update were received.

“Once again, the Commission wishes to emphasise that these are preliminary figures. The final figures will be published on State by State basis after the period for claims/objections and ABIS. The date for the commencement of collection of new PVCs will be announced thereafter.

“The Commission appeals to the public to seize the opportunity of the display of the register to help us clean it up as provided by law.”