Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) said on Wednesday that it has released the list of validated candidates for the Chairmanship and Councillorship elections into the 20 Local Governments (LGs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of the State scheduled for Saturday, 22nd July, 2017.
The commission said this in a statement made issued by its Director, Public Affairs, Mr. Oladapo Olatunde, pointing out that the list was now available for the observation of candidates and interested members of the public.
The commission had in line with its statutory responsibilities, requested all the candidates whose names were submitted to it by the various political parties vying for elective offices in the forthcoming elections to appear before it for validation.
According to the release, the names of validated candidates have been pasted on the notice board at the Yaba, Lagos office of the commission.
During the validation exercise, the candidates whose names were submitted, from all the 12 political parties vying for available seats in the state, presented their documents as specified in the guidelines published by the Commission for screening.
The 12 parties fielding candidates for the election are: Accord Party (AP), Action Alliance (AA), Alliance for Democracy (AD), All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Others are United Democratic Party (UDP), United Progressive Party (UPP), Kowa Party (KP), National Action Council (NAC) and Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM).
Meanwhile, the commission said it has commenced a 3-day Trainer of Trainers Course for Electoral Officers in the 57 Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas of the state as part of preparations for the conduct of the Saturday, 22nd July 2017 elections in the state.
According to it, the course, which is facilitated by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), is designed as a master–trainer programme as the participants are expected to train all the ad-hoc personnel who would be engaged for the conduct of the elections.
Chairman of the Commission, Hon. Justice Ayotunde Phillips, while addressing participants during the opening ceremony, urged participants to take advantage offered by the course and demonstrate an open mind to learning and change to enhance the electoral process at the local government level of the state.
She commended IFES for its continuous support towards the Commission, particularly with regard to training and capacity development of the personnel of the Commission to enable them internalize international best practices in election administration and management.
IFES is a United States-based organisation operating in over 100 countries of the world for the entrenchment of democracy and election international best practices. The organisation is being supported by USAID and UKAID.
The 3-day course with the title “IFES Election Training on Polling and Counting Procedures for LASIEC Trainersn,” will end on Thursday.
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