1,680,315 Voters Have Registered For February’s FCT Election – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that 1,680,315 persons have registered for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) council election which will be held on February 21, 2026.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for FCT, Aminu Idris disclosed this at a stakeholders’ meeting with political parties in Abuja yesterday.

Idris stated that the total number of registered voters in the FCT increased from 1,570,307 recorded in 2023 to 1,680,315.

He also said the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for newly registered voters, as well as those who applied for transfer or updates during the CVR exercise, had been delivered to the FCT, adding that the commission would announce the commencement date for PVC collection in due course.

Idris, who presented the revised voters’ register, described the exercise as a critical constitutional requirement in the commission’s preparations for the election.

He explained that INEC had resumed the nationwide CVR exercise on August 18, 2025, beginning with online pre-registration and followed by physical registration nationwide from September 29, 2025.

The REC said in compliance with Section 9(6) of the Electoral Act, 2022, the CVR was suspended in the FCT on October 12, 2025, to allow the commission to revise the register of voters for the Area Council election.

According to him, the revision process, carried out pursuant to Section 10(6) of the Electoral Act, involved biometric deduplication of the register, its display for claims and objections, and the compilation of a supplementary list arising from the exercise. He noted that the revised register now supersedes all previous registers.

He further briefed stakeholders on the commission’s level of preparedness for the February 21, 2026, Area Council election, which will fill 62 councillorship seats and six chairmanship positions across the FCT.

The REC urged political parties and candidates to sustain the prevailing peaceful atmosphere in the FCT and intensify voter mobilisation ahead of the election.

Meanwhile, a total of 18,193 prospective voters have completed their enrollment in the phase 2 of the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.

Out of this figure, 12,022 registrants have completed the online pre-registration while 6,171 completed the physical (in-person) registration.

The data is contained in the report of phase 2 of nationwide CVR as at January 9, 2026, released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday.

The phase 2 of CVR resumed on January 5, 2026 after the conclusion of the first phase of the exercise which formally ended on December 10, 2025.

INEC had disclosed in December that 9,891,801 registrants initiated online pre-registration during the first phase of the exercise.

The commission said of this figure, 2,572,054 registrations were fully completed nationwide as of November 28, 2025, consisting of 1,503,832 online completions and 1,068,222 physical registrations.

INEC stated that the interval between the two phases was to carry out statutory activities required by law, including the display of the register of voters for claims and objections.

“In accordance with Section 19 of the Electoral Act 2022, the display of the register of voters for claims and objections was held from December 15 to 21, 2025, at local government area offices where the CVR exercise was conducted,” INEC had said.

In a related development, INEC has resumed the CVR exercise in Anambra State.

The exercise was suspended on July 20, 2025, to enable the commission clean up the voters’ register, as well as produce and distribute (PVCs) ahead of the November 8, 2025, governorship election in the state.