2023: electoral commission debunks insinuation of adding new registrants into voters register

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has debunked insinuations that new registrants have been added to the voters’ documents, and compromise of voter registration ahead of the 2023 general election in the country

Penpushing reports that, the commission refuted the claims in some quarters, in a statement issued by its Public Relations Officer, Festus Okoye after issues of mismatched identities of voters started gaining traction.

The commission faulted the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) which shared with journalists’ copies of national voter registers containing questionable names and other mismatched bio-data information.

Penpushing further reports that, the statement declared that, it was wrong for the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) for taking its findings to the public, rather than approaching the commission for clarification.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), spokesman added that it is until the commission concludes the cleaning exercise before the final voter register will be published for people to raise complaints.

“It is important to reiterate that no new registrant has yet been added to the Register of Voters for the 2023 General Election or will be included until these supplemental activities have been completed in line with the law’, he explained

“For the avoidance of doubt, we restate the main components of these activities. First, the Commission is conducting a comprehensive Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) cleanup of the registration data by scrutinising every record’, Okoye added.

“Based on the Electoral Act 2022, any record that does not meet all the criteria for inclusion as stipulated in Section 10, including the appearance in person by the registrant at the registration venue with proof of identity, age and nationality and our business rules requirements of adequate number of fingerprints and clear pictures will be invalidated’, the statement said.

“Further, in line with Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, after the ABIS and clean up, the Commission shall appoint a period of seven days during which the register will be published for scrutiny by the public for objections and complaints,” he said.

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