….Says 144 Associations Seeking Party Status
Moses Ofodeme
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is getting set to display the preliminary register of new voters for claims and objections by citizens who are the ultimate owners of the register.
This will take place in all the 326 Wards in Anambra State from Saturday 26th July 2025 to Friday 1st August 2025.
Once this process is concluded, including the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), the new registrants will be added to the existing register and published on Polling Unit basis ahead of the election.
The Commission said it will also announce the dates and locations for the collection of the Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) for new registrants and those who applied for transfer or replacement of their lost or damaged cards.
The PVCs from previous registration will also be available for collection. With 105 days to the election, the Commission is aware of the tight timelines but we wish to reassure all new registrants in Anambra State that their PVCs will be available for collection ahead of the election.
The Commission made the announcement when it held its regular weekly meeting on Thursday 24th July 2025.
In continuation of the Commission’s preparations for the off-cycle governorship election in Anambra State, the meeting received the final report on the Continuous Registration of Voters (CVR), followed by a presentation by the ICT Department on the portal for party registration.
The Commission, recalled that the CVR scheduled to end on 17th July 2025 was extended to 20th July 2025 following appeals by citizens.
The INEC gave final figure of new registrants as 168,187 which is the highest number recorded in two weeks in Anambra State since the introduction of the CVR ahead of the governorship election in 2017.
Although these are preliminary figures pending data clean-up, the detailed breakdown shows that 97,832 (58%) are female while 70,355 (42%) are male. In terms of age, 90,763 (53.97%) are young people aged 18-34 while the occupational distribution shows that 62,157 (36.92%) are businessmen/women while 44,243 (26.31%) are students. In terms of Persons with Disability (PWDs), 303 (24.92%) have physical impediment, followed by 207 (17.02%) with albinism. The detailed breakdown has been uploaded to our website and other platforms for public information.
“In our last press release, we assured Nigerians that we are finalising the necessary tests on the party registration portal designed and built in-house by our ICT officials. As is the case with all our IT innovations, the new portal has been demonstrated before the Commission and approved for deployment.” it said.
The Commission is also evaluating all numerous letters of intent received so far to determine the associations that meet the requirements to proceed to the application stage. A report is expected at our next regular meeting.
Meanwhile, the Commission has received 10 more letters of intent from associations seeking registration as political parties, bringing the number so far to 144.
The details of the new associations, including their names, acronyms, logos, addresses and interim leaderships are published on our website and other platforms for public information.