INEC to hold Supplementary Elections on March 23

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has slated Saturday 23rd March for supplementary elections in six States, where elections were declared inconclusive. These States include: Adamawa, Benue, Bauchi, Kano, Sokoto and Plateau. According to a National Commissioner and Chairman for Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, the elections will be conducted in all the Polling Units for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly positions, in areas where polls had been declared inconclusive and winners could not be announced. The inconclusive nature of the elections was attributed to the discontinuation of the use of the Smart Card Reader (SCR) midway into the exercise, failure to deploy them, over-voting, widespread disruption and violence. Okoye stated that the Commission’s decision to conduct supplementary elections was in accordance with the margin of lead principle derived from relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 and the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of the elections, as the outcome of these elections can not be determined without conducting polls in affected Polling Units. It will be recalled that INEC conducted Governorship elections across 29 States, and State Houses of Assembly elections in all 36 States of the Federation. Returning Offices in the various States declared the winners of the elections in the days that followed, while elections were declared inconclusive in six States and suspended in Rivers State as a result of several acts of violence.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *