The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the National Assembly to support its effort to convert the existing polling points to polling units and to relocate some of them to underserved areas. Speaking at a stakeholders’ forum organised by the National Assembly’s Joint Committee on INEC and Electoral Matters held on Tuesday in Abuja, […]
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has said that the National Assembly would support the Independent National Electoral Commission in its bid to provide a secure and safe voting environment, with the ultimate aim of fostering democracy by ensuring electoral integrity and transparency in the conduct of elections.
We’re still using 119,973 polling units created in 1996 INEC
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By Henry Umoru ABUJA
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Tuesday, told the National Assembly that the 119,973 polling units being used for elections were created in 1996, by the defunct National Electoral Commission of Nigeria, NECON, when Chief Karibi Gagogo-Jack was Chairman (1994-1998) under late General Sani Abacha’s junta.
The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, made the revelation while pleading with the National Assembly to enable the Commission embark on the creation of additional polling units, as the current number may impinge upon the integrity of the 2023 elections.
Professor Yakubu also told the Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano South) led Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on INEC that more polling units would provide for a good voting environment and effective implementation of the regulations and guidelines of the Commission on election days.
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Issues relating to polling units in democracy remain critical because of the role of the electorate. In this report, KUNLE ODEREMI and TAIWO AMODU write on the plan by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to create more polling units across the country vis-a-vis the credibility of elections.
Polling unit constitutes a fundamental building block for credible election. It serves as the real platform for eligible citizens to exercise their franchise since a polling unit or station is a place, where eligible persons can register to vote in an election.
There are about 120 000 polling units disproportionately spread across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. Some of the units have multiple voting points due to density of the population of registered voters, especially in urban areas.