Moses Ofodeme
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured new voters in Anambra State as well as those who applied for transfer or replacement of their lost or damaged Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) that their cards will be ready for collection well ahead of the Governorship Election holding in the next 63 days on Satruday 8th November 2025.
The Commission gave the assurance at its meeting on Thursday 4th September 2025.
Among other issues, the meeting deliberated on the final register of voters for the Anambra State Governorship Election and the status of letters of intent from associations seeking registration as political parties.
In continuation of preparations for the forthcoming Anambra State Governorship Election, the Commission carried out voter registration in the 326 Wards across the State from 8th to 20th July 2025. During that period, 168,187 citizens registered as new voters.
At the end of the registration exercise, the Commission earmarked a period of one week (26th July to 1st August) to display the list of new registrants in all the Wards for claims and objections by citizens in the spirit of Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2022.
The Commission also scrutinised the list using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) to detect invalid registrations. At the end of the process, 27,817 records were found to be double or multiple registrations and removed from the list.
Consequently, the figure for new registrants now stands at 140,370 while valid applications for transfer into the State is 5,983, making a total of 146,353 new voters.
Prior to the recent voter registration, Anambra State had 2,656,437 registered voters. With the new registrants, the voters roll for the State now stands at 2,802,790.
The distribution of the new figures by Local Government Area shows that Idemili North with 246,318 (8.79%) has the highest number of voters, followed by Awka South with 216,611 (7.73%) and Ogbaru with 188,016 (6.71%). On the other hand, Dunokofia and Anambra West have 83,580 (2.98%) and 71,332 (2.55%) registered voters respectively.
Since its last update on the number of associations seeking registration as political parties, 19 more letters of intent have been received, bringing the total so far to 171 as at 3rd September 2025.
As earlier announced by the Commission, a shortlist of the pre-qualified associations is being finalised for the next stage of application for registration. The Committee reviewing the letters of intent has prepared its recommendations for final consideration by the Commission.
The INEC also appealed to all the Associations that submitted letters of intent to remain patient as it finalise the process.
The Commission equally urged them to avoid frequent changes to their logos, acronyms and addresses or one Association submitting multiple requests.
It complained that some Associations have changed their interim leadeships, following defections to other Associations or even existing political parties, thereby delaying the process.
The INEC however reassured the Associations that it will treat all applications fairly while urging them to assist the process by remaining consistent add promised to continue to communicate with Nigerians on all its activities.