Onyekachi Eze 
…Holds mock accreditation Saturday
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said a combined total of 5,409,438 registered voters will vote in the November 11 governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States.
INEC in a statement on Tuesday by Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee Sam Olumekun, explained that a total of 1,056 862 voters registered in Bayelsa State, while 2,419,922 voters registered in Imo State.
Olumekun who is also INEC National Commissioner, added that 1,932,654 voters registered in in Kogi State.
He explained that soft copies of the complete register of voters for each state will be presented to the political parties participating in the elections.
“For emphasis, 16 political parties are sponsoring candidates in Bayelsa State, 17 in Imo State and all the 18 parties in Kogi State,” he said.
Olumekun called on chairmen of political parties or their representatives, to attend the event, which he added, will take place at the collation centres in INEC state headquarters in Lokoja, Owerri and Yenagoa on Thursday, October 12 at 10 am.
The National Commissioner further stated that the commission has finalised preparations to conduct mock accreditation of voters in the three states.
According to him, the exercise which is in furtherance of INEC’s commitment to deepen the deployment of technology for voter accreditation and result management, is to test-run the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and upload polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
“The exercise will take place simultaneously in the three states on Saturday 14th October 2023 from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm.
“The list of designated polling units for each state has already been uploaded to our website and social media platforms.
“Lessons learnt from the exercise will be taken into consideration to ensure the seamless deployment of both the BVAS and IReV on election day. This is strictly a test run and not the actual election,” he explained.
He appealed to registered voters in the selected polling units to turn up with their permanent voter cards (PVCs) for the exercise.
