The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said a total of 137,973 polling and collation agents registered to participate in the November 11, 2023 governorship poll in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states.
According to a list of polling and collation agents released by the electoral umpire on Tuesday, at the close of the deadline for political parties to upload the list of agents to the INEC dedicated portal, 34,704 agents were uploaded for Bayelsa State, 65,274 for Imo State, and 37,995 for Kogi State, for a total of 137,973 agents.
The statement was signed by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun.
The Commission further stated that “the detailed breakdown shows that not all the parties nominated agents for the polling and collation centres across the States. Indeed, some political parties have no polling unit or collation agents in some States despite having candidates in the election.
INEC also released an Information Booklet for the three governorship polls showing the infographic summary of registered voters and Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) collected by Local Government Areas (LGAs) as well as the distribution of registered voters by gender, age group, occupation and disability.
“The publication also includes the list of candidates and detailed information on the two polling units in Bayelsa and 38 in Imo State without registered voters. The Commission has repeatedly said that elections will not hold in these polling units. No materials have been produced for these locations and no officials will be deployed to them.
“Sixteen political parties are sponsoring candidates for the election in Bayelsa State and 18 in both Imo and Kogi States. The elections will be held in 10,470 polling units (excluding the 40 polling units without registered voters).
“Each political party is expected to nominate polling agents for all the polling units as well as 649 Ward, 56 LGA and three State collation centres.”