Tag: festus okoye

INEC counts losses as hoodlums raze office in Ebonyi

Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) and other items were destroyed when some hoodlums set the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in the Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State on fire.

“The incident occurred around 10.00 am when some unidentified persons set the entire building ablaze,” INEC’s National Commissioner & Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said in a Sunday statement.

“Although no casualties resulted from the attack, the main building and all the movable and immovable items inside it were destroyed. These include 340 ballot boxes, 130 voting cubicles, 14 electric power generators, large water storage tanks, assorted office furniture and fixtures, and yet-to-be-determined quantities of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs).”

He said security agencies have been informed about the most recent incident and that an investigation has started.

“Sadly, this is the third attack on our local government office in less than three weeks following similar attacks on our offices in Ogun and Osun states on 10th November 2022,” Okoye said.

Election offices have been attacked recently in the country’s southeast, where separatists are seeking a breakaway state for the local Igbo people, but attacks in the southwest are rarer.

Security will be a major issue in the election with the armed forces battling an insurgency in the northeast, heavily armed criminal gangs in the northwest and central states, and separatist agitators in the southeast.

Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria has also been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, fallout from the war in Ukraine, and its worst flooding in a decade that has impacted farms and food production.

Nigerians go to the ballot box in February to vote for a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, a former army commander who steps down after two terms in office.

November 28, 2022
INEC releases guidelines for political campaigns, party expenses

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday approved the publication and release of the guidelines for political campaigns; as well as election expenses of political parties, candidates and aspirants.

This is contained in a statement issued by Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee in Abuja.

Okoye said that the commission met on Thursday and deliberated on several issues including the publication and release of the guidelines, as well deliberated on the appointment of a Secretary to INEC.

“The commission approved the publication and release of the guidelines for the Conduct of Political Rallies, Processions and Campaigns as well as that of Finances and Election Expenses of political parties, Candidates and Aspirants. “

Okoye said that the INEC has consequently uploaded the two documents to its website and social media handles while copies would be made available to political parties, civil society groups, the media and other critical stakeholders.

He reminded political parties of their obligation to submit the required reports to the commission in accordance with the provisions of Section 90(4) of the Electoral Act 2022 and the applicable sanctions for failure to comply as provided in Section 89(4) of the Electoral Act.

Okoye also disclosed that the commission also approved the reappointment of the Secretary of the Commission, Mrs Rose Oriaran-Anthony, for a second and final term of four years, with effect from Dec. 7, in accordance with Section 8 of the Electoral Act, 2022.

Oriaran-Anthony hails from Edo.

She holds a Bachelor of Education (B. Ed) degree in Language Arts from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, a Masters’ degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Abuja and another Masters’ degree in Public Communication and Public Relations from the University of Westminster, in the United Kingdom.

She is the second female Secretary of the commission and the first to have her tenure renewed.

She is a long-term staff of the Commission and has served as Public Affairs Officer, Assistant Director (Information and Publicity), Deputy Director (Voter Education) and Director (Civil Societies Liaison).

Her last posting was Administrative Secretary in Delta before her first appointment on Dec. 5 2018.

Section 88 of the Electoral Act provides that “the maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate at a presidential election shall not exceed N5,000,000,000.

“The maximum amount of election expenses to be incurred by a candidate in respect of governorship election shall not exceed N1,000,000,000” while Section 88 (8) provides that “No individual or other entity shall donate to a candidate more than N50,000,000.”

November 25, 2022
2023: We are preparing for possible rerun elections – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is already making plans and preparations for the conduct of a run-off presidential election, where no candidate meets the conditional requirements for declaring a winner from votes cast on Feb. 25, 2023.

The INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, gave the hint at a meeting with Bureau Chiefs/Editors of media organisations on Friday in Abuja.

Okoye said that such plan had been the tradition of INEC for all elections conducted by the commission since the return of democracy since 1999.

He said that INEC was already planning to print double of the total number of ballot papers required for the first ballot, should in case there was rerun election.

He explained that the preparations were always made alone the first because the commission had just 21 days to conduct the rerun or run-off election.

The national commissioner said that before candidate could be declared winner of the presidential election, he or she must have the highest number of votes cast and secure a quarter of the votes cast in two-thirds of the states of the federation and the FCT.

He said where the threshold is not met by any candidate, the constitution stated that second election should be conducted for two of the candidates with highest and majority votes in line with the provisions of the constitution.

“Section 134 subsection 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is the fundamental law of the land, makes it mandatory that before anyone is deemed to have been elected as a president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, that candidate must secure the highest number of votes cast at the election.

“He must also secure a quarter of the votes cast in two-thirds of all the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. That is mandatory.

“Now, if no candidate secures this highest number of votes and the mandatory threshold, the Constitution says we must have a second election within a period of 21 days.

“Now, not all candidates are going to participate in this second election. Eighteen candidates will be on the ballot for the first election, ” he said.

Okoye also explained that: “If no candidate emerges on the first ballot, only two candidates are going to be on the second ballot or only two candidates are going to contest the second election.

“Who are those candidates that will be on the ballot for the second election?

“The Constitution has made it very clear that two candidates will be on the ballot are; one amongst the candidates who scored the highest number of votes at the election, the one that scored the highest number of votes at the election.

“The second candidate that will be on the ballot will be one amongst the remaining candidates who have the majority of votes in the highest number of states.”

He emphasised that: “The Constitution did not say that the person who came second will be the person who will be on the ballot. That’s not what Constitution says.”

Okoye said that due to the number of ballot papers, over 90 million required for the election and the number of days to conduct the second election, INEC would always print the paper along with those for the first poll.

“If 93 million ballot papers are required for the presidential election, INEC will print 186 million ballot papers just to be ready for a possible second presidential election.

“This is because the law gives the commission just 21 days within which to engage in reverse logistics and conduct a run-off election in case there’s no winner.”

On how INEC would determine the two candidates to be on the second ballot since it was printing the ballot papers along the first, Okoye said that in order to meet up with the timeline, the commission would still print for all the political parties that participate in the fist ballot.

He said it was the responsibility of the political parties to sensitise the voters on who they should vote for among the two candidates that meet the requirements for second election.

He said any vote cast for all other candidates expected not to be on the second ballot would be counted as void votes.

Okoye also said that all sensitive materials for the 2023 general elections would be kept with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), except the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

“We have classified the BVAS as a sensitive material and we have engaged with different security agencies to provide security for the BVAS because the BVAS will be in the custody of the commission.

“So, we have adopted a hybrid approach as the BVAS will remain with the commission while the ballot papers will be in the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“This was the agreement we had with political parties, security agencies, Civil Society Organisations and media.”

In her presentation, the INEC Director of Legal Drafting Department, Mrs Oluwatoyin Babalola, said INEC would continue to evolve and improve on the electoral process vis-à-vis international best practices and electoral legal framework in its quest for credible elections.

Babalola described the Electoral Act 2022 as a laudable effort to bring the Nigerian electoral process up to standard with countries all over the world, and meet the aspirations of Nigerians.

“It is believed that the provisions of the Act will guarantee the delivery of free, fair, transparent and credible elections which will in turn increase the acceptance of the electoral processes and outcomes in the 2023 general election and beyond.”

November 19, 2022
INEC set to print 187 million ballot papers for 2023 elections

Ahead of the 2023 general elections in the country, the Independent National Electoral Commission has confirmed that it will print about 187 million ballot papers for the polls.

Festus Okoye who is the body’s Information and Voter Education Committee chairman disclosed this on Friday in Abuja Nigeria’s capital.

Okoye who spoke at a Roundtable with Bureau Chiefs/ Editors in Abuja said 93.5 million ballot papers will be used on February 25, 2023, for the presidential election and the remaining 93.5million ballot papers will be for run-off of the presidential election in case there is no clear winner.

According to INEC the presidential and National Assembly election will hold on the 25th of February while the Governorship and state assembly elections will hold on the 12th of March 2023.

The leading contestant for the presidential election are Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) while Alhaji Atiku Abubakar will contest under the auspices of the Peoples Democratic Party.

November 18, 2022
INEC opens up on under age persons captured in voters’ register

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reassured Nigerians that the Commission is committed to transparency and accountability in all its activities, stressing that it is working to perfect the national register of voters.

TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports INEC made this disclosure on Thursday in a statement released by Festus Okoye, the Commission’s National Commissioner and Chairman in charge of INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee.

This is coming following complaints received after the Commission published the national register of voters to enable Nigerians to scrutinise the preliminary register, make claims and raise objections about the presence of ineligible persons so that they can be deleted.

INEC disclosed that it has been harvesting the online claims and objections and that same would be done for the manual process.

“At the end of the exercise, all claims and objections made will be addressed. In this way, citizens are contributing to the strengthening of our electoral process.

“The fact that these likely ineligible registrants are being identified means that the objectives of the display for claims and objections are being met,” Okoye stated.

The statement reads in full: “Nigerians would recall that last Saturday 12th November 2022. the Commission published the preliminary national register of voters in its 8,809 Registration Areas (Wards) and 774 Local Government Area offices nationwide.

“Similarly, the entire register has been published on the Commission’s website for the first time in the nation’s electoral history. The purpose of the display is to enable Nigerians to scrutinise the preliminary register and make claims about misspellings of names, personal details or missing names on the register so that the errors can be corrected.

“In addition, citizens can raise objections about the presence of ineligible persons, for example, those below the age of 18 years, dead persons, foreigners, or those making false claims so that they can be deleted from the register in line with the Commission’s established rules.

“As earlier announced, the Commission will display the physical copies of the register for claims and objections at two levels. First, at the Registration Aren level from 12th to 18th November 2022, which comes to an end tomorrow, and thereafter, at the Local Government level from 19th to 25th November 2022.

“The display will be followed by hearing of claims and objections by citizens for disposal action. In addition to the physical display at the Registration Areas and Local Governments, the register is also displayed on the Commission’s website so that citizens can simultaneously make both claims and objections online throughout the duration of the exercise.

“This is the first time that the Commission would be doing so and further underscores our commitment to applying technology to improve the electoral process. So far, the Commission has been harvesting the online claims and objections. We will do the same for the manual process. At the end of the exercise, all claims and objections made will be addressed. In this way, citizens are contributing to the strengthening of our electoral process.

“It is therefore in the foregoing context that recent media reports on the presence of ineligible registrants in the register should be seen. The full display of all registrants speaks to the Commission’s commitment to transparency.

“The fact that these likely ineligible registrants are being identified means that the objectives of the display for claims and objections are being met. We implore the public to follow the procedures and report these objections for the necessary action of the Commission.

“In addition, the Commission cannot rule out infractions by its registration officials in allowing
these ineligible persons into the register in the first place. Therefore, each confirmed case of infraction will be thoroughly investigated and culpable officials will be disciplined.

“We wish to reassure Nigerians that the Commission is committed to transparency and accountability in all its activities. We hope that at the end of the exercise, the Commission, with the involvement of citizens, would have improved the quality of the Register of Voters, which is the bedrock of a successful election.

“Nigerians should note that perfecting the register is a continuous and painstaking process over time. Indeed, the presently displayed register contains all the voters dating back to the registration of 2011, not just the recent exercise.

“That some of these likely incligible entries are being found presently confirms the Commission’s position that the best way to make the voters’ register more robust is for Nigerians to continue to scrutinise it and, more importantly, make their claims and objections for its improvement. We
thank Nigerians for their sustained cooperation for the growth of our democracy”.

November 17, 2022
All BVAS needed for 2023 polls ready before December – INEC

All Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) needed for the 2023 general elections would be ready before December.

The assurance was given in Abuja on Thursday by INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Voter Education and Information Committee, Mr Festus Okoye.

He gave the assurance while speaking as a panellist at a seminar on “Optimising technology to safeguard people’s will’’ organised by the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Alumni Association.

Okoye said BVAS to be used in 27 states were already available.

“We will have the full complement of the BVAS for the 2023 elections; both in the 176,846 polling units and in the 8,809 Registration Areas on ground before December.

“We shall have a BVAS in each polling unit and we are going to have at least two stand-by BVAS in each of the registration areas,’’ he said.

The commissioner also said that at the end of on-going nationwide display of voters register on Nov. 25, INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu would address the nation on the modality for collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

He said while the PVCs of those who registered before Jan. 15 were ready for collection, those that registered between Jan. 15 and July 31 would be ready December.

Speaking on the security of INEC’s ICT platforms, Okoye said beyond the provision of adequate security against hacking, there was also adequate backup for the platforms.

He said that going by INEC’s performance in recent elections in Osun, Ekiti, Anambra and Osun, citizens’ confidence in the Commission had continued to improve.

Okoye said that with the optimising of technology, INEC had been able to build portals for political parties to nominate their candidates online.

It had also built portals for observers and the media to register for election observation as well as portal for voter registration.

He added that the Commission had also enhanced its technology to improve on voter accreditation during elections, which made it to jettison Card Readers for BVAS.

The national commissioner also listed the design of another portal for real time INEC Results Viewing Portal to eliminate rigging of elections.

“What we have done is to try and see in what ways and by what means technology can assist the Commission to do its work better and that’s exactly where we are today,’’ Okoye said.

In his contribution, Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Mr Samson Itodo, who spoke on “Issues in voter registration and managing voters’ role’’, advised voters to play their roles in ensuring that the 2023 general elections were not manipulated.

Itodo, who was also a discussant, noted that politicians were already attempting to manipulate the 2023 elections and citizens must come up with strategy to negate those attempts.

He listed the attempts to include the compromise of the independence of INEC through the appointment of some National Electoral Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners with political and questionable backgrounds.

“From the screening of the commissioners by the Senate there was a report that one of the nominees admitted that he was an aspirant at the 2015 elections in one of the political parties, but today he is INEC commissioner.

“There are states we need to tag as `red flag’ states. We need to monitor the states from where these individuals had been deployed and push back any attempt to compromise elections there,’’ he said.

Itodo added that another attempt to manipulate the process was the registration of underage potential voters.

He advised citizens to take advantage of the on-going display of voters register and the INEC website to identify the underage registered, dead persons and foreigners and forward their claims and objections to INEC.

“For everyone who has been screaming that the voter register should be audited, the register is now in your hand. This is the time for you to contribute to the cleaning up of the voter register,’’ he stressed.

Another panellist, Chairman, Editorial Board, ThisDay Newspapers, Mr Olusegun Adeniyi, who discussed “the anatomy of public distrust in election management’’, expressed confidence in the capacity of INEC to conduct credible elections in 2023.

Adeniyi urged Nigerians not to take the country’s election for granted but to defend it.

He advised politicians to go into the 2023 election with expectations that they would win, but in the event that they lose, they should not scatter the process.

Former FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr Lawrence Alobi, who was also a member of the panel, said security was fundamental to the electoral process, before, during and after the exercise.

“We already have reports on where political rallies were being attacked in Jos, Kaduna and Borno States,’’ he noted.

Alobi called for adequate training of security officers in democratic policing, adding that provision of security on election days must not be biased, and must be proactive.

“Untrained security personnel on election duty are a threat to the society and to election,’’ he stressed.

The retired police officer advised the electorate to vote responsibly; monitor behaviour of security agencies during elections and demand that law and other are followed.

November 17, 2022
INEC makes clarifications on plot to rig 2023 elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied reports that it was planning to rig the 2023 general elections by abandoning the direct and real-time electronic upload of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing portal by the Registration Area Technical Support Staff.

National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye made the clarifications on Friday via a statement.

He noted that IReV is one of the innovations introduced by the Commission to ensure timely and efficient delivery of result without any form of bias or favour to anyone.

He added the system shouldn’t be undermined, saying it has proven very effective.

The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to reports in a section of the media of alleged plans by the Commission to rig the 2023 General Election by abandoning the direct and real-time electronic upload of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing portal by the Registration Area Technical Support Staff.

“The claim is patently false. The Commission has repeatedly reassured Nigerians that it will transmit results directly from the polling units as we witnessed in Ekiti and Osun State Governorship elections and 103 more constituencies where off-cycle Governorship/FCT Area Council elections and bye-elections were held since August 2020. The results can still be viewed on the portal.

“The IReV is one of the innovations introduced by the Commission to ensure the integrity and credibility of election results in Nigeria. It is therefore inconceivable that the Commission will turn around and undermine its own innovations.

“The public is advised to ignore the reports. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and IReV have come to stay for voter accreditation and uploading of polling unit results in real-time in Nigeria.”

November 12, 2022
INEC releases methodology for claims, objections on voters’ register

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the methodology for claims and objections in the register of voters by citizens.

Mr Festus Okoye, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, said this in a statement in Abuja.

Okoye said that INEC at its weekly meeting on Thursday, deliberated on the approved methodology for the display of the entire national register of voters for claims and objections by citizens as required by law, ahead of the general election.

“As earlier announced by the commission, the entire preliminary register containing 93,522,272 registrants will be published. The exercise will last for 2 weeks, from Nov. 12 to Nov. 25.

“The physical copies of the register will be displayed in all the 8,809 Registration Areas (Wards) and 774 Local Government Areas on polling unit basis nationwide.

“For the first time, the soft copy of the entire register will also be published on the Commission’s website (visit www.inecnigeria.org/display_register and follow the instructions),” OKoye said.

Okoye said that the register would contain the name, picture, date of birth and Voter Identification Number (VIN) of each of the registered voters.

He, however, said that for data protection and security reasons, critical information such as biometric details, residential address, telephone numbers and email address of voters would not be made public in both physical and soft copies.

Okoye said that during the display, individuals can might make claim that the name of a registered voter had been omitted and could make corrections on his/her personal details on the register.

He said that citizens could also raise objection against the inclusion of any person either not qualified to vote or the name of a dead person on the register

“As the exercise commences on Saturday Nov. 12, we appeal to Nigerians to seize the opportunity to scrutinise the register.

“They should draw the Commission’s attention to any corrections in their personal particulars and any malicious registrations, multiple registrants, non-Nigerians or any other person not qualified to be on the register.”

Okoye said that detailed clarification on the processes and procedures for the exercise, including relevant forms, could be obtained from INEC ’s officials at the points of display at Registration Areas (Wards) and Local Government Areas.

He added that the information have also been uploaded to the commission’s website and social media platforms.

“By the provisions of the law, cleaning up the voters’ register is a collective national responsibility.

“So far, the commission has weeded out ineligible registrants using our Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS).

“By working together with citizens, we can clean the register further as it is the critical foundation for credible elections,” he said.

November 11, 2022
Simultaneous attacks on our offices very worrisome – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has described the simultaneous attacks on its Local Government offices in Ogun and Osun States as worrisome.

TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports this was contained in a statement released by Mr Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Commissioner & Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee.

Consequently, the Commission has convened an emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) tomorrow Friday 11th November 2023 to discuss the disturbing trend.

INEC is the statement also rued the rising incidents of attacks on supporters of various political parties since the commencement of campaign barely two months ago and the use of hate and incendiary language by some politicians.

Giving an update on the level of destruction of the office in Ogun State, Mr Okoye disclosed that 65,699 uncollected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) were burnt in the fire incident.

The statement reads: “This morning, the Commission received two disturbing reports of attacks on our Local Government offices in Ogun and Osun States.

“The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for gun State, Dr. Niyi Ijalaiye, reported that our office in Abeokuta South Local Government Area was attacked and set ablaze.

“The incident occurred around 1:15 am when some unidentified persons overpowered the security personnel on duty and set the entire building ablaze.

“The main building and all the Commission’s movable assets in the office were destroyed. They include 904 ballot boxes, 29 voting cubicles, 30 megaphones, 57 election bags, 8 electric power generators and 65,699 uncollected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).

“Similarly, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for sun State, Dr. Mutiu Agboke, reported that our office in Ede South Local Government Arca was attacked and set ablaze.

“The incident occurred in the early hours of this morning when some unidentified persons attacked the building and set a portion of it ablaze.

“Fortunately, the damage to our Ed South Local Government was limited to a section of the building and only some furniture items were destroyed.

“The attention of the Nigeria Police Force and other security and safety agencies has been drawn to the incidents and they have commenced investigation.

“With just 106 days to the 2023 General Election when the Commission has commenced the movement of materials to our offices nationwide, these simultaneous attacks are very worrisome indeed.

“Similarly, the rising incidents of attacks on supporters of various political parties since the commencement of campaign barely two months ago and the use of hate and incendiary language by some politicians are extremely disturbing”.

November 10, 2022
INEC opens up, addresses key issues regarding 2023 elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has vowed to reveal to the public in the nearest future its findings on the investigation carried out on alleged Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) found in different locations in Nigeria.

Mr Festus Okoye, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education, said this at a two-day capacity workshop for INEC Press Corps on critical issues in the Electoral Act, 2022 and preparations for 2023 General Election on Monday in Lagos.

Okoye said that the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu was expected to brief Nigerians on the findings.

“The chairman has made it clear that we were going to investigate that particular issue and that we were going to make our findings public. The chairman will make finding of the commission public as relate to PVCs allegedly found in inappropriate locations,” Okoye said.

On the perception that incidence forms may still be used for 2023 general election, Okoye said the usage of the forms in Nigeria electoral process was dead and buried. He advised the electorate to look at how to advance in the usage of technology in the country’s electoral process and not to move backward.

“We have retired the Smart Card Readers and incidence forms and nobody can resurrect them. People should leave some of the things that we have already buried. We should now be talking on how we advance. We are advancing. Technology move forward. Technology does not move backwards,” Okoye said.

He also faulted allegation that some of the Non-Governmental Oragnisations (NGOs) accredited as election observer groups were owned by INEC officials. Okoye said that as a product of civil society and former chairman of Transition Monitoring Group for four years, he knew the process and criteria involved in accrediting organisations as election observers.

He said that INEC has already published it applications calling on NGOs and CSOs as well as international organisations interested in monitoring the 2023 general elections to apply. He said no organisation would be accredited without being registered by Cooperate Affairs Commission (CAC), as well as having a bank account and credibility in monitoring election.

He wondered why any INEC officials would be interested in such when the commission do not pay money accredited observer groups.

Speaking earlier, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, said that since the conclusion of the 2019 general election, INEC had embarked on internal restructuring, engagements with stakeholders and several innovations aimed at improving its services and the electoral process.

Rotimi said that the efforts have produced some positive results, including the replacement of the old Electoral Act ,2010 with a new Electoral Act 2022.

“The workshop’s main objective is to broaden the participants’ knowledge about the commission’s processes and procedures, innovations, critical aspects of the new Electoral Act 2022 and preparations for the 2023 General Election.

“Ultimately, the outcome will equip them with the comprehension that they need to report more accurately and robustly on the commission’s Strategic Plan 2022-2026, the Election Project Plan, Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections (2022) and adequately propagate its voter education strategy for the 2023 poll,” he said.

Denis Mutabazi, representative of the European Union Support Democratic Governance (EU-SDG)/DAI, said the workshop would avail the commission the opportunity to unveil its strategies for a free, fair, and credible 2023 election.

“The event is a crucial demonstration of INEC’s strong commitment to transparency and in ensuring that the public is well informed about INEC’s stewardship of the electoral process,” Mutabazi said.

September 27, 2022