The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that three out of the 18 political parties eligible to field candidates have not submitted any polling or collation agents for the upcoming off-season governorship election in Ondo State, scheduled for November.
Sam Olumekun, the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, revealed in a statement on Friday that a total of 74,790 agents are expected for the upcoming election.
However, the 18 political parties combined have only provided 32.3% of the required agents.
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Three political parties, All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Boot Party, and National Rescue Movement (NRM), did not submit any agents at polling or collation levels.
The main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), leads with 3,931 agents, followed closely by the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 3,892 agents, while the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has nominated 2,757 agents.
The statement reads in part,” Following the closure of the portal for the upload of polling and collation agents for the Ondo State Governorship election, the Commission is pleased to publish the summary of submissions made by political parties.
“The portal opened on 20th August 2024 and automatically shut down at midnight on Monday 30th September 2024 as indicated on item 9 on the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election released almost a year ago in September 2023.
“In Ondo State, there are 3,933 polling units and 222 collation centres, consisting of 203 ward centres, 18 Local Government centres and the State collation centre in Akure.
“A political party fielding candidates in the election is expected to nominate 4,155 agents.
“From the 18 parties participating in the election, the Commission expected a cumulative figure of 74,790 agents.
“However, only 24,148 were uploaded to the portal, made up of 22,689 polling, 1,249 ward, 196 Local Government and 14 State collation agents.
“Three political parties have no agents at all levels of polling or collation.
“A detailed breakdown of the submissions has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information.”
