2023: INEC Hopeful of New Electoral Law

Chuks OkochaThe Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday expressed the hope of the country getting a new electoral law following the assurances given by President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly. The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu stated this at the first quarter stakeholders’ meeting with political parties in Abuja.

He officially informed the leaders of the political parties that the 2023 general election is just 396 days away, adding that 8,260,076 eligible Nigerians commenced the online pre-registration.

In his address at the meeting with political parties, Yakubu said: “Undoubtedly, the year 2022 is going to be a very busy year for the commission and the political parties. The 2023 general election is just 396 days away. All the critical preparations must be concluded this year.”

“The Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) which commenced in June last year has entered the third quarter. As at yesterday Monday 17th January 2022, a total of 8,260,076 eligible Nigerians commenced the online pre-registration, completed the registration physically or applied for transfer to new voting locations, replacement of their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) or updated their voter information records as required by law.

“The Commission has been publishing weekly progress reports of the exercise. We are aware that Nigerians want to know when their PVCs will be available for collection. At the moment, the Commission is undertaking the most comprehensive cleaning up of the data to ensure that only eligible citizens are added to the voters’ register for the 2023 General Election and will share our findings with Nigerians and the actual dates for the collection of the PVCsn ationwide will be announced very soon”