The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is setting its sights on Thursday, February 1st, 2024, as the potential date for a bye-election to fill the gaps in the state and federal legislatures.
This follows the need to fill the vacancies left by court orders, resignations, and death.
INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, dropped the hint during a recent meeting with leaders of political parties.
Professor Yakubu revealed that the courts, after the end of legal battles, instructed the commission to conduct rerun elections in 34 federal and state constituencies. According to the INEC boss, there is one senatorial seat, 11 federal constituencies, and 22 state constituencies up for grabs.
He added, “I want to assure you that at the end of all the litigations, including the Governorship elections pending on appeal at the Supreme Court, the Commission will present a comprehensive analysis of the petitions, including cases where the Commission was ordered to issue Certificates of Return to other candidates and the reasons for the decisions by the Courts as part of the lessons learned from the 2023 General Election for the consequential reforms to improve the conduct of future elections.”
“With regard to the bye-elections, you may recall that in my recent address at the swearing-in of new Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) which was combined with our last quarterly meeting with the RECs nationwide, I made a commitment that the Commission will conduct elections to fill vacancies in the National and State Assembly constituencies.”
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“The Commission is looking at the first week of February 2024 i.e. in just a little over one month to conduct both the re-run and bye-elections. At the end of this consultative meeting, the Commission will meet to review preparations and announce a definite date, including the detailed Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the elections. Full delimitation details, including locations, number of Polling Units, registered voters and Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) collected in each constituency will be uploaded to our website for public information.”
