INEC backtracks, creates more voting points

The Independent National Electoral Commission has created 57,023 voting points in addition to the existing 119,973 points to address the 84 million voters registered.

Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had earlier said no more voting units would be created.

However, it was learnt that following a high-powered meeting by INEC national commissioners and other relevant stakeholders, it was decided that 57, 023 new voting points had to be created.

This was necessary because the number of registered voters had risen by 15 million since 2015 and as thus the old arrangement was not feasible.

The additional voting points would also ensure that voting is done in record time in order to allow for quick collation of results which will be expected to take longer due to the high number of political parties which has since risen to 91.

A commissioner explained that a voting point is created when a polling unit has more than 500 registered voters.

He said, “A voting point is derived from a polling unit. When a polling unit has more than 500 registered voters, a voting point can be carved out of it and set aside but it is not completely independent. Ideally, a polling unit should not have more than 750 voters.”

When asked why INEC changed its mind, the commissioner said, “Once a polling unit has more than 750 voters, it is best to devolve a new voting point out of it because if the entire 750 turn up for election, they will not be able to complete accreditation and voting by 2pm.

“In 2015, there were 69 million voters but now we have 84 million. So, that accounts for the increase in the number of voting points.

“As I said, these voting points are like a sub-polling unit. For instance, if Gaskiya Primary School is a polling unit but has 1, 200 registered voters, we can create a voting point out of that unit, to make it two to allow for a better and faster voting process. So, at the end, all the results from that unit would be collated as one.”

The INEC National Commissioner for Voter Education and Publicity, Mr Festus Okoye, confirmed the creation of more voting points.

He said it had become necessary due to the large number of voters.

Okoye said, “We have created more because the number of voters has risen to 84 million. INEC regulation 3c states that voting points are created out of polling units based on multiples of 500 and a maximum of 750 registered voters or as may otherwise be determined by the commission.

“We cannot use the 2015 template because the total number of registered voters was 69 million but now it is 84 million. If we use the same template, it means we have not learnt any lessons at all.”