The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the conduct of bye-elections and rerun elections across the country.
The electoral body on Thursday, said it may start the elections by February 2024, to fill vacancies in the state and federal legislatures.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the commission’s chairman, made this known during a meeting with political party leaders to prepare for the elections.
Prof. Yakubu said at the end of litigation, the courts have ordered the commission to conduct rerun elections in 34 federal and state constituencies made up of one in the Senate, 11 federal constituencies, and 22 state constituencies.
In addition, he said the commission will conduct bye-elections to fill vacancies created as a result of resignation or death of members.
He said that an authentic date for the election and a comprehensive timetable will be released at the end of the meeting with party leaders.
Yakubu said: “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 ”
“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,” he said at the event.
“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.”
He also assured that once the election litigations are over, 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”
