JUST-IN: INEC Releases Guidelines For 2023 Elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the legal framework that will guide the 2023 general elections.

INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja at a special meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to review security arrangements for the Ekiti State governorship election.

Yakubu said with the presentation of the Regulations and Guidelines, the Commission has concluded formal preparations for the polls.

With the coming into force of the Electoral Act 2022, he said it has become necessary to review the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines to govern the conduct of elections.

He said the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act 2022 and the Regulations and Guidelines jointly constitute the electoral legal framework.

According to him, “On several occasions, the Commission has assured Nigerians that we are finalizing the Regulations and Guidelines for the elections. I am glad to announce that the document is ready and will be presented to Nigerians shortly. The soft copy will be uploaded to our website with the link shared on our social media platforms.

“With the release of the Regulations and Guidelines today, and the publication of the Strategic Plan (SP) 2022-2026 and Election Project Plan 2023 earlier, the Commission has virtually concluded the planning processes for the 2023 General Election nine months ahead of the election.”

In the next couple of weeks, he said the training manual will also be presented to Nigerians.

Going forward, he said the Commission will focus on election administration which includes logistics, training, voter education, technology, sensitization against vote-buying, inclusivity measures, and above all, security.

He stressed that ICCES will continue to play a critical role while the Commission appreciates the support of all security agencies.

With only 15 days to the Ekiti governorship election, he said all the major activities that were supposed to be carried out at this stage have been successfully undertaken.

He said, “I led a team of INEC National Commissioners to Ekiti State early this week to assess the Commission’s preparations for the elections. We visited our offices in several Local Government Areas, held meetings with our staff, had audience with the Council of Obas to solicit the support of their Royal Majesties for peaceful elections and met with the security agencies.

“We also observed the ongoing training of ad hoc staff and the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for mock accreditation of voters in some Polling Units across the three Senatorial Districts of the State.

“We will again return to Ekiti State shortly to meet with the stakeholders and for the signing of the Peace Accord by political parties and candidates under the auspices of the National Peace Committee.”

Speaking further, he said as the Commission was getting ready for the Ekiti poll, it has also gone far with similar preparations for the Osun State governorship election holding next month on Saturday, July 2022.

At the same time, he said the Commission has continue with preparations for the 2023 General Election.

“On this note, let me seize this opportunity to address two critical aspects of our preparations for the forthcoming General Election.

“Nigerians may recall that the ongoing CVR started a year ago. For the first time, the Commission introduced online pre-registration as well as physical registration at designated centres.

“As the deadline for the suspension of the CVR i.e. 30th June 2022 approaches, long queues are building up, especially in some states in the South East, Lagos, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“The Commission had anticipated the last-minute surge and therefore established additional centres and deployed more machines to register citizens,” he said.

Unfortunately, he said the security situation in many parts of the country has not allowed full deployment as planned. In some states of the Federation, INEC registration officers were attacked resulting not only in the unfortunate destruction of buildings and loss of equipment but even worse, the death of a staff.

“This has forced the closure of some of the registration centres.

“However, in view of the surge, additional machines will be deployed to some of the most congested areas to ease the surge. Similarly, the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) have been directed to liaise with the security agencies and stakeholders on the possibility of reopening some of the centres earlier closed because of insecurity, but in doing so, they must always bear in mind the safety of registrants and registration officials,” he said.

Furthermore, he said the RECs were directed to do more to provide information, increase awareness of the processes, and more promptly respond to genuine complaints by citizens.

“The Commission appreciates the support of partners and critical stakeholders in mobilising citizens to register. We look forward to such partnership to encourage registered voters to collect their PVCs and for increased voter turnout on Election Day,” he added.