The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced that 2,629,052 registered voters are set to participate in the upcoming September 21st election.
This announcement came after INEC presented the Certified True Copy of the updated Voters Register to the 17 political parties participating in the election. The presentation was made early last week by Dr. Anugbum Onuoha, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for INEC in the state, at the INEC office in Benin City.
Dr. Onuoha stated that the commission’s decision to provide the voter register to political parties aligns with the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act, 2022, as amended.
He noted that before the recent Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, exercise, the total number of registered voters in Edo State during the 2023 general election was 2,501,081.
Breaking down the updated register, Onuoha revealed that there are now 1,370,061 male voters, accounting for 52.11% of the electorate in the state, while female voters number 1,258,964, representing 47.89%.
In terms of age distribution, Onuoha highlighted that youths aged 18 to 29 make up the largest group, with 983,133 voters, or 37.4%. They are followed by the middle-aged group, aged 30 to 49, who number 914,806 (34.8%). The elderly, aged 50 to 69, constitute 530,244 voters (20.17%), while those aged 70 and above total 200,842 voters (7.64%).
Additionally, Onuoha disclosed that 8,847 people transferred their voting centers to Edo State from other states, while 109 voters transferred their centers out of Edo State.
According to him “In line with Section 10(4) of the Electoral Act, 2022 as amended, today, we shall be giving you (political parties representatives), the Official Register of Voters in Edo State and this is the 10th item in the timetable and schedule of activities for Edo State”, he said.
“Recently, we did continuous voter registration and the cards have been printed and given to us. In Edo, we have a total of 119, 206 new registered voters
“In addition we have 8,847 transferred from their registration centres within the state as the law provides. The commission has updated the records of 4, 808 voters that applied for correction of names, addresses, and date of birth from their previous registrations.
“We also replaced the 5,406 lost, damaged PVCs. Put together, 184, 436 voters of various categories were served by the commission during the last CVR in Edo State”, he said
According to the Edo INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ikpoba-Okha has the highest number of registered voters with 400,495, closely followed by Oredo Local Government Area with 357,371 Voters while Igueben Local Government Area has the least registered voters with 52,000.
On her part, the INEC National Commissioner in charge of Edo, Delta and Ondo States, Prof. Rhoda Gamus, said that the commission is committed to conducting free, fair and credible elections in Edo and urged the politicians to abide by the electoral guidelines for the election, noting that the exercise should not be seen as a do-or-die affair.
She said: “The commission is committed to keeping strictly to the date and details in the timetable and schedule of activities for the 2024 governorship election in Edo State.”
She revealed that the commission will be conducting a mock accreditation ahead of the election, adding that the date and modalities would be communicated to the people.
(allnews.ng)
Leave a Reply