The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ondo State has said the commission would deploy effective and sustainable strategies that would ensure high voter turnout and discourage voter apathy and violence in the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
The State’s Resident Electoral Commission, Oluwatoyin Babalola, gave this assurance during a visit to members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Akure.
Babalola noted that despite a concerted effort by the commission to guide against apathy, most of the off-cycle elections are usually characterised by not very impressive turnout of voters.
She, however, assured that INEC would do all that is humanly possible towards ensuring that there was ‘no voter apathy’ during the exercise, where 17 political parties are expected to participate.
According to her, apathy among the electorate is one of the critical factors that are used to determine the degree of credibility of elections all over the world, and she called on all stakeholders to join hands in the area of voter education and publicity to raise the percentage of voter turnout in the governorship election scheduled for Saturday, 16 November, 2024.
The INEC boss assured the electorate in the state that their votes would count, urging the electorate not to lose faith in the electoral process, disclosing that the electoral body was working towards a free and fair election in the state.
She said the level of turnout during the voters’ registration exercise indicated that the electorate is anxious to participate in the election.
She said, “People of Ondo State should not lose faith. They should believe in us that we will do our best for this election. We will ensure that we continue to work with security agencies to ensure that the level of violence is reduced.
“We will also make sure that the polling units open on time so that we don’t waste time, and materials will be at the 3,993 polling units spread across 203 registration areas of the state. We are hopeful, and we believe we will have the best election.”
Babalola added that the electoral body would also ensure it deployed the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) and the result viewing portal (IREV) for the election exercise, assuring that the devices would work optimally.
“We have the IREV and BVAS. All these will make votes count. People of Ondo State should not lose faith. They should believe in us. And we are going to give them the best election,” the REC said.
Babalola said the electoral body would be open and ensure its doors are widely open to the media for information concerning the exercise.
Speaking, the NUJ chairman, Prince Leke Adegbite, who commended the REC for the visit, said the media would give maximum support to the electoral commission and other stakeholders to ensure the success of the election.
He, however, advised the commission to ensure people’s vote count, a violence-free election, and politicians play by the rules of the game.
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