From Magnus Eze, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured that the November 18 governorship election in Anambra State would be concluded at first ballot.
The Commission also said it expects massive voter participation going by the large turnout in the Continuous Voters’ Registration exercise in the state.
The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Solomon Soyebi, said this when he appeared as a guest on a breakfast television programme in Abuja, yesterday. He said the enthusiasm displayed by voters in the state accounted for over 200,000 of about 3million voters nationwide, an indication that there would be massive participation.
He disclosed that the over 200,000 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) would soon be ready for collection in the state.
“This large number of turnout for registration is an indicator that we are going to have a lot of people coming out to vote. So, we are ready in terms of logistics.
“Again, the first thing the Commission promised is that for the first time, Anambra will have an election that will be concluded at first ballot. It’s been very elusive in the past three elections; but this time, I want to go to Anambra and make sure that we come back only at one vote.
“The issue of voting points in Anambra is going to come alive; we are going to be voter friendly where we will have more than 500 voters. The voting points will come alive like polling units and the electronic transmission of results will go side by side with the manual format. We want to really experiment the e-transmission just for the sake of test running” Soyebi said.