2019: 299 candidates jostle for NASS seats in Lagos

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lagos State on Thursday announced that a total of 299 candidates across various political parties in the State are jostling for the National Assembly seats in the 2019 general elections.

The commission’s timetable and schedule of activities for the 2019 general elections had indicated that publication of personal particulars of candidates (CF001) for the presidential and National Assembly elections would be made available on October 25, 2018.

According to the document issued by INEC office in Lagos, 50 candidates are contesting for the three Lagos Senatorial seats on the platform of 25 political parties in the state, 249 candidates across 30 political parties are contesting the 24 seats available to the state in the House of Representatives.

Section 31(3) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), provides that the publication must be made within seven days of the receipt of the form from political parties at the constituency where the candidate intends to contest the election.

A breakdown of the list showed that the Lagos West Senatorial District has the highest contenders of 22 candidates, while Lagos East and Lagos Central had 15 and 13 contestants respectively.

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Political parties that would be fielding candidates in Lagos West are; Accord, AA, ADP, AAC, ADC, APC, AD, ANP, APM, CAP, DPP, GPN, MPN, NCP, ND, PDP, PPN, PRP, PT, PPC, UDP and YPP.

For the Lagos East, the political parties include; Accord, ACD, AAC, ADC, APC, AD, CAP, DPP, ID, MPN, PDP, PPN, PT and PPC.

While in Lagos Central, the following parties namely: Accord, ACD, ADC, APC, ANP, FJP, ID, LM, MPN, PDP and PT would have their candidates contesting for seats.

For the House of Representatives seats, out of the 30 political parties participating, only PDP, APC and ADC fielded candidates in all the 24 federal constituencies while others did not.

Meanwhile, 76 political parties will be contesting for the office of the president in 2019 general elections, according to the INEC publication.

Speaking on the development, the Lagos INEC Public Relations Officer, Mr Femi Akinbiyi, said the commission had fulfilled the requirements of Section 31(1 and 3) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) with the publication.

Akinbiyi said that the list of political parties and their candidates participating in senatorial elections had been published in the Local Government Offices of INEC in the senatorial constituencies.

According to him, the list of political parties and their candidates participating in the House of Representatives elections had also been published in the Local Government Offices of INEC in the various constituencies.

The list of Governorship and Houses of Assembly candidates of various political parties are expected to be published on November 9, 2018.