INEC ELECTION 2015 UPDATES

the Independent National Electoral Commission has again reminded the National Assembly of the necessity of amending the 2010 Electoral Act, to pave the way for smooth and well conducted pollsand electioneering campaigns. The Commission had in November last year written the National Assembly to amend theElectoral Act to enable the commission disqualify candidates, decide the tenure of secretary of the commission, among other things. We’ll get you more details of the contents of the letter, as well as the need for urgent electoral reforms.

Mohammed Aminu in Sokoto The chairman, Independent NationalElectoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, saturday said the commission was determined to improve the electoral process ahead of the 2015 elections in the country. Speaking in an interview with newsmen during the bye-election for Gada West constituency in Gada Local Government Area of Sokoto State saturday , Jega maintained that INEC had introduced some new operational arrangements that would improve the electoral process. According to him, the Commission would continue to improve on the electoral process in the country, to ensure a credible election in 2015. “As you are aware, we consider this bye election for Gada West constituency as very important because INEC is trying to introduce new operational arrangement to improve the electoral process in thecountry. “Thus, at the end of this election, wewill collate all the reports to know the challenges witnessed in the conduct of the bye election so that we can improve the process to give Nigerians a credible election. And I assure you that 2015 will be better than previous elections,” he said. Jega, who spoke through the national commissioner in charge of operations, Dr. Nuru Yakubu, noted that it was in view of the importance attached to the bye-election that, the Commission deployed three national commissioners and four resident electoral commissioners from Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa and Zamfara states as well as 25 supervisorshttp://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/2015-inec-committed-to-improving-electoral-process-says-jega/153264/

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is set to test run the use of permanent voters card (PVC) to be introduced for the 2015 elections. Professor Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman who stated this yesterday in a paper he presented at the Nigeria civil society situation room meeting on the state of thenation organised by Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), which took place in Abuja said already 20 million PVCs havebeen delivered. He said the remaining would be delivered by mid 2014 so as to develop a distributionplan for the cards to ensure that registrants get their cards on time. He said that the PVC, which is a machine-readable card, will be given to each registered voter and will be read on presentation to INEC officials by card readers at each polling unit. Each card according to him has information unique only to a specific voterand voters will be required to authenticatetheir information by scanning their fingerprints on the card reader. The benefits of the PVC, the INEC boss saidincludes the fact that it is easily electronically verifiable using networked smartcard readers that will be deployed toeach polling unit (PU), can notify voters when accreditation starts, would enable total number of people accredited at a PU to be known and vote collation as well as equipment and material checklists would be available.http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/index.php/politics/58803-2015-elections-inec-to-test-run-permanent-voters-card

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Monday announced that the Anambra State governorship election would hold onNovember 16, 2013. The Commission, in a communiqué signed on behalf of the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, , Prof. Chukwuemeka Onukaogu, by the Assistant Director, Public Relations, Mr. Frank Egbo, said activities for the exercise would commence on August 13, 2013. The statement reads in part, “In exercise of the powers conferred onthe Independent National Electoral Commission by the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended and all other powers enabling it, the Commission hereby issues the Time Table and schedule of Activities for the Governorship Election 2013 in Anambra State. “Activities for the election will commence on 13th August 2013, while the ban on campaign by political parties in public is hereby lifted with effect from 18 August, 2013. Also, there are other activities scheduled between 26th August and 15th November, 2013. “In accordance with Section 179 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Run-Off Election (if any) will be held within seven days of the announcement of the result of the election.http://dailypost.com.ng/2013/07/09/inec-announces-anambra-governorship-election-will-hold-november-16/

Voter registration is crucial for political participation in a democratic context. Theremust be a guarantee that the right to vote in elections is universal, equal, direct and secret. The franchise is the means through which the governed agree to delegate their authority to those who govern. It is the link between the legitimacy of political governance and the liberty of human beings. The Commission is mandated by law in Section 9(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 to keep the voter register updated and this would be done via the Continuous register. Continuous Registration is the process whereby the Voters` List is continually maintained by adding the names of eligible voters as well as deleting the names of those who no longer meet eligibility requirements. It would enable citizens register at any time other than the election period especially for those who had not attained the voting age during the biometricvoter`s registration exercise, it is also necessary if a registered voter needs to update his/her information for instance contact address or details. To know the status of your registration,http://166.78.241.65/?page_id=954

http://www.inecnigeria.org/?inecnews=why-oguta-constituency-election-was-inconclusiveThe Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has received reports showing that the election conducted in Oguta constituency of Imo State last Saturday, June 29, 2013, witnessed incidentsof violence and unruly conduct by partisans,necessitating the cancellation of the electionin eight (8) polling units. This cancellation made the election inconclusive. Field reports showed that even though security agents mobilised appreciably for the exercise, there were cases of violence as well as ballots and result sheets snatching by thugs, as a result of which the election was cancelled in the following polling units: (i) PU 001 in Ward 05 (Ndeloukwu/Umuowerre) – with 768 registered voters. (ii) PU 007 in Ward 03 (Izombe) – 939 registered voters. (iii) PU 009 in Ward 09 (Oru) – 708 registered voters. (iv) PU 010 (Ward 09) – 657 registeredvoters. (v) PU 011 (Ward 09) – 407 registeredvoters. (vi) PU 012 (Ward 09) – 408 registeredvoters. (vii) PU 013 (Ward 09) – 667 registered voters. (viii) PU 003 in Ward 02 (Egwe/Egbuoma) – 212 registered voters. The total population of registered voters in the polling units affected was over 4,000; whereas the difference between the leadingcandidate and the next in the collated results was 2,011 votes. The procedure is that where the number of registered votersinvolved in a cancelled election exceeds the difference in the votes of the two leading candidates in collated results, the election will be declared inconclusive. It bears pointing out that the present outcome of Oguta constituency election is similar to what happened with the 2011 governorship election in Imo State, which was eventually resolved

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Wednesday, unveiled its strategic plan for credible elections ahead of the 2015 general election. Unveiling the plan tagged: “Strategic Plan 2012-2016” before stakeholders in Abuja, the chairman of the commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, said this would provide a strategic direction for the commission and the actions to be taken towards achieving its set goals of free, fairand credible elections in the country come 2015. According to Professor Jega, “the INEC strategic plan is a practical, action-oriented guide which has been developed based on examination of internal and external factors that direct goal setting and resource allocation to achieve meaningful results over time. It is a design, a blueprint, a master plan to help the commission develop a pragmatic road map for its work over the next five years.” He explained that the plan would among other things, propose what needs to be done by the commission to achieve its mandate following assessment of its performance over the years, provide a framework and focus for improvement, optimise the commission’s organisational systems and structures, provide guidance to managers for day-to-day decisions. While assuring the stakeholders and the public in general that the commission was set to deliver a world acclaimed best elections in 2015, Professor Jega said the commission had been cleansed of bad eggsand now paraded committed and dedicated staff, saying, “what the staff need now is motivation to spur them to give the commission and the nation their best.”