INEC May Hold Re-Run, Bye-Elections In February, Says Mahmood

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says re-run and bye-elections may be held across the country next February. 

This is according to the Chairman of the electoral body Mahmood Yakubu who spoke at a meeting with political parties.

“With regard to the bye-elections, you may recall that in my recent address at the swearing-in of new Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) which was combined with our last quarterly meeting with the RECs nationwide, I made a commitment that the Commission will conduct elections to fill vacancies in the National and State Assembly constituencies,” the INEC chief told the Monday gathering at the Commission’s office in Abuja.

“The Commission is looking at the first week of February 2024 i.e. in just a little over one month to conduct both the re-run and bye-elections.”

But he said before the announcement of a definite date, INEC will convene a meeting to decide on that.

“At the end of this consultative meeting, the Commission will meet to review preparations and announce a definite date, including the detailed Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the elections,” he said at the event.

“Full delimitation details, including locations, number of Polling Units, registered voters, and Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) collected in each constituency will be uploaded to our website for public information.”

He also assured that once the election litigations are over, the Commission “will present a comprehensive analysis of the petitions, including cases where the Commission was ordered to issue Certificates of Return to other candidates and the reasons for the decisions by the Courts as part of the lessons learned from the 2023 General Election for the consequential reforms to improve the conduct of future elections”.

Monday’s meeting is the first since the off-cycle governorship elections in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo states.