Posted by On Saturday, February 3, 2024, nine impacted states of the federation will hold concurrent reruns and by-elections, according to an announcement made by the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC.
The Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the speakers of state houses of assembly were stated to have announced these vacancies on behalf of the National Assembly.
Sam Olumekun, the Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee and National Commissioner of INEC, stated in a statement released on Friday that the commission has approved the timeline and schedule of activities for holding by-elections in the event that members of the National Assembly and state houses of assembly resign or pass away.
Olumekun pointed out that the openings were spread among nine states of the federation, including two senatorial districts, four federal seats, and three state constituencies.
In addition, he said, “The Commission is holding rerun elections in response to the general election of 2023 as instructed by several election petition appeal tribunals.
The current round of court-ordered elections affects thirty-five constituencies. Three involve all of the constituency, while others just include a small number of voting places. On Saturday, February 3, 2024, both types of elections are planned to occur concurrently in all impacted constituencies.
Olumekun claims that the election schedule and comprehensive delimitation information, such as polling unit names, registration areas, voter registration numbers, and PVC counts, have been posted on the commission’s website and social media pages for the public’s information and use by political parties and candidates.
For these reasons, the electoral authority asked candidates and political parties to rigorously follow the deadlines in order to ensure a smooth and easy election process.