INEC refuses registration of new voters for Ondo election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday said it would not register new voters ahead of the governorship election in Ondo state. The Commission has fixed October 10, 2020 for the gubernatorial election while both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have showed interest in the election.

No fewer than 20 aspirants are seeking to contest the ticket of the two major political parties for the election.

Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting in Akure, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Rufus Akeju said there would be no Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) and distribution of Permanent Voters Card (PVCS) in the state again before the governorship poll.

According to him, the development was due to the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic with the rising cases in the state.

Akeju added that the commission was already mapping out ways of mitigating the challenges posed by the virus ahead of the governorship election.

He noted that out of the 1,822,346 registered voters in the state, 1,478,460 have so far collected their PVCS while 372,888 PVCS are yet to be collected.