INEC Chairman directs parties to submit membership register 30 days before primaries

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has directed all registered political parties to submit copies of their membership register to the commission, in compliance with the new Electoral Act 2022, before their primary elections.

The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, gave the directive at the second regular quarterly meeting of Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Abuja, on Thursday.

Yakubu said that the new Electoral Act made it mandatory for political parties to submit their registered members to the commission 30 days before their primaries.

The INEC chairman also advised the RECs to thoroughly study the new Electoral Act, saying a credible election is anchored on the law.

On the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), particularly the creation of additional centres to devolve the exercise beyond INEC State and Local Government offices nationwide, Yakubu said that a total of 2,673 centres had been activated nationwide.

He disclosed that in the last one week of the exercise, 405,587 eligible Nigerians had completed the registration at the various centres.

This, according to him, represents about 31 per cent increase on the average figure of 125,000 weekly registrations since the exercise commenced in June 2021.

Yakubu also said that while INEC expected a surge in new registrations as it approached its June 30 deadline, it was prepared for it.

He, however, said that INEC was concerned about the safety of prospective registrants, INEC personnel, equipment and materials, including the printed Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) made available for collection by registered voters.