The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has asked political parties to adhere strictly to the 2023 General election timetable and schedule of activities.

 

A statement signed by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye, said that so far, two out of the fourteen activities in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities have been successfully accomplished, stressing that notice of Election was published on the twenty-eightieth February 2022, while nomination forms had been made available on the Commission’s website since first March 2022, for political parties to download and issue to their candidates.

 

According to the statement, conduct of primaries by political parties in line with the dictates of Section eighty-four of the Electoral Act for which the Timetable and Schedule of Activities provided a period of sixty-one days is expected to follow.

 

The Commission urged political parties to strictly adhere to the principles of internal democracy, drawing from their constitutions, guidelines, the Electoral Act and other Regulations and Guidelines issued by the Commission, adding that candidates for the one thousand four hundred and ninety-one constituencies for which elections will be conducted in 2023 must emerge from democratic, transparent and valid primaries, in line with the provisions of Sections twenty-nine and eighty-four of the Electoral Act, 2022.