2023 ELECTORAL CYCLE BEGINS: INEC’s plan to improve voter access to polling units, by Mahmood Yakubu

As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) enters a new electoral cycle (2019-2023), with some major upcoming activities such as the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) and several off-cycle elections which will culminate in the 2023 general elections, it has decided to embark early enough on a major programme of engagement with stakeholders on expanding voter access to Polling Units ahead of the activities in the electoral calendar.

Consequently, it has prepared a Discussion Paper which the Commission’s Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, described as the framework for the planned engagement.

“Among other things, it presents the Commission’s concerns about the worsening challenge of voter access to Polling Units, provides a historical background to this challenge, outlines some indicative issues to be addressed by the engagements and provides the Commission’s thinking on how to solve the challenge of declining voter access to Polling Units in Nigeria”, Yakubu said.