The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Tuesday that 17 out of the 18 registered political parties in the country have conducted primaries for the purposes of nominating candidates for the October 10 governorship election in Ondo State.
The INEC said this on Tuesday in Abuja at the end of the commission’s management meeting.
In a statement made available to KAFTAN Post, INEC said that the Boot Party is the only one that did not either notify INEC of its plan to conduct the primary or conduct any primary to nominate a candidate for the Ondo governorship election.
The statement said that apart from the Ondo election, the commission also deliberated on the Nasarawa Central State Constituency Election scheduled for 8 August 2020 and preparations for the Edo Governorship Election holding on 19 September 2020.
The electoral umpire explained that on 6 February 2020, the commission published the timetable and schedule of activities for the Ondo Governorship Election and gave political parties interested in sponsoring and nominating candidates between 2 and 25 July 2020 to conduct party primaries and till 6pm of 28 July 2020 for the submission of the list and particulars of nominated candidates.
“17 out of the 18 registered political parties gave the commission the requisite statutory notice of their intention to conduct primaries and they conducted primaries for the purposes of nominating candidates for the governorship election.
“The commission opened its dedicated nomination portal on 21 July 2020 and some of the political parties that conducted their primaries before the 25 July deadline seized the opportunity and uploaded the list and particulars of their nominated candidates ahead of the cut off time of 6pm on 28 July 2020.
“As at 4.08pm today, 28 July 2020, all the 17 political parties had submitted the list and particulars of their nominated candidates using the INEC dedicated portal,” INEC said.
The Commission said that the list and personal particulars of the candidates, as submitted by the 17 political parties, will be uploaded on INEC website and published in the INEC state office in Akure on Friday 31 July 2020.
INEC maintained that this is in compliance with section 31(3) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and that the list will also be published on the commission’s social media platforms same day.
“By section 31 (5) & (6) of the Electoral Act, a person who has reasonable grounds to believe that any information given in the affidavit or any of the documents submitted by any of the candidates is false, may file a suit in court seeking a declaration that such information is false,” INEC stated.
“If the court determines that the information is false, the court shall issue an order disqualifying the candidate from contesting the election,”
The electoral commission urge members of the public to take an active part in the vetting of the list and particulars of nominated candidates to enhance transparency in party’s nomination processes.
