INEC to Release Timetable for 2015 Elections Soon

                               

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it  would soon release the timetable and sequence of the 2015 general election.

INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, yesterday told the European Union (EU) Managing Director for Africa, Nicholas Wescott, about the plan when he visited him in Abuja.

On preparations for governorship elections in Osun and Ekiti States, Jega allayed fears that the widespread irregularities that marred the November 16, 2013 governorship election in Anambra State would recur in the two states.

He said the electoral body would not use the manual and addendum registers in   Ekiti and  Osun governorship elections and the 2015 general election as it would use the electronic register.

To ensure credible polls in  subsequent elections, added that a regiment of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) would precede the two governorship elections and the 2015 general election.
He explained that although the electronic register was not perfect, the commission had made   efforts to make it credible.

According to him,  INEC will only use the electronic register to conduct elections because of the significant improvement  that had occurred and a court ruling that the commission could only use one register to conduct elections.

He urged Nigerians, who had not registered or whose names were not in the electronic register to use the opportunity of the impending CVR   to do so.

Jega said the commission would next month launch a facility to enable registrants to query its database to find out if their names were in the electronic register.

INEC Chairman added that commission would create additional polling units to decongest others in such a way that no polling unit would have more than 500 voters as opposed to the subsisting situation where some polling units have up to 3,000 registered voters.

Jega also expressed optimism that the security challenges being faced in the  North-east  would have been addressed and overcome before the 2015 general election.

“Based on the lessons the commission had learnt and which it had factored into the planning of the 2015 general election, we are confident that we will raise the bar,” he said.

Earlier, Wescott had expressed the desire of the EU to ensure that the 2015 general election  were transparent and the results acceptable to all stakeholders.
“We’re keen to ensure that the elections next year will be transparent and that everyone will accept the outcome. That the votes will be counted and that the votes will count,” he said.

Meanwhile, INEC  is to hold a two-day retreat for its Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) on the preparations for the general election.

According to the Director, Commission’s Secretariat, Ishiaku A. Gali, the retreat will take place in Kaduna,  from January 23 to 24.