INEC To Suspend Nationwide Continuous Voter Registration August 17

By Chinwe Ogbuka, Assistant Director, Publicity

7^th July, 2018

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that it will suspend the nationwide Continuous Voters’ Registration (CVR) exercise, which commenced on April 27, 2017 on August 17.

According to a statement issued on July 6 and signed by National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Prince Solomon Adedeji Soyebi, the decision was reached after consultations with major stakeholders comprising Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations, Security Agencies and the Media.

The stakeholders expressed satisfaction with the Commission’s preparedness for the next general elections and the progressive improvements it has made to the electoral process. They enjoined the Commission to do more to ensure free, fair and credible elections.

On the CVR, the stakeholders noted the need to comply with statutory timelines and unanimously agreed that sufficient time be given between the capture of data, its processing and the production of PVCs.

Given the backend activities necessary for this and acting on the recommendation of the stakeholders after taking into consideration, the statutory obligations to end the revision, update, certification and publication of the Register of Voters for the general elections, the Commission decided to suspend the ongoing CVR at 3pm on Friday, August 17, 2018.

The statement added that the collection of PVCs would however continue until a week preceding the commencement of the general elections on February16, 2019.