Expanding voters access to polling units will redress low voters turn out ― Yakubu, INEC Chairman

National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has said the objective behind the proposed expansion of polling units was to mitigate the trend of poor turn out at general elections.

The INEC Chairman made the declaration while addressing the gathering of Chairmen of political parties on Friday as part of the Commission sensitisation of stakeholders ahead of the programme.

Professor Yakubu noted that the exercise was long overdue against the backdrop of an increase in voters population, the emergence of urban settlements and the global pandemic, Coronavirus. He recalled that the leadership of the political parties have in the past expressed strong reservation about low voters turn out in elections in Nigeria.

Professor Yakubu who put existing figures of registered voters in the country at 84,004,084, argued that the number would continue to rise ahead of next general elections.

He said the existing polling units put in place 25 years ago would no longer be enough for the growing voters’ population

He said:” You may recall that at the last meeting, many party leaders expressed concern about low voter turnout in elections in Nigeria. After reviewing the situation, it was agreed that political parties, INEC and all stakeholders need to do more in the areas of voter and civic education, voter mobilisation and inclusivity.

After the meeting, the Commission critically appraised the situation. In addition to other factors highlighted by political parties and other stakeholders, the Commission is of the firm belief that expanding voter access to polling units in Nigeria is crucial to voter turnout in elections. Experience has shown that enhanced voter access to polling units increases turnout in elections.

Not surprisingly, many countries expand access to polling units with every fresh registration of voters while others do so routinely or before every general election.

“Increase in voter population, emergence of new settlements, urbanisation, distance to existing polling units, difficult terrain and other factors require constant review to give the voter a pleasant experience on Election Day. Above all, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to decongest polling units to minimise overcrowding and reduce the long distances voters travel often in overcrowded means of transport in order to vote during elections.

“Unfortunately, the last time polling units were established was 25 years ago in 1996 by the defunct National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON). There were 120,000 polling units to serve a projected population of about 50 million voters.

Today, the number of registered voters is 84,004,084 and is set to rise after we resume Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) ahead of the 2023 General Election. Yet, the number of polling units remains static. In fact, the biggest category of registered voters on our database (aged 18 to 25 years) was not even born when the current polling units were established a quarter of a century ago.”

The INEC Chairman who expressed disappointment over unsuccessful attempts in 2007, 2014 to expand voters access pleaded for the cooperation of the political parties for the success of the initiative ahead next general elections.

In the resolutions signed by 16 political parties in attendance, they endorsed “INEC proposal of converting the existing and well known Voting Points and Voting Points Settlements nationwide into full-fledged polling units to address the problem of Voters access. Therefore, political parties fully support this solution.

The political parties asked INEC “to commence the process of converting the existing Voting Points and Voting Points Settlements nationwide into full-fledged polling units immediately based on clearly articulated guidelines to be developed by INEC and shared with stakeholders.”

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