The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared that it was yet to fix a date for supplementary National Assembly elections in about 15 States.
The Commission said what would be conducted with the state assembly and governorship elections tomorrow were one senatorial election in Enugu and one House of Representatives poll in Edo state.
The national commissioner, Information and Voter Education, Barrister Festus Okoye, who disclosed this in a statement, explained that “these two elections are not supplementary, but suspended elections.”
The senatorial election for Enugu East was suspended because of the death of the candidate of the Labour Party in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, while the election into the Esan Central/Esan West/Igueben was suspended because of the missing logo of one of the parties.
The statement read in part, “The attention of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been drawn to a news report that conveyed the impression that the Commission intends to conduct supplementary elections arising from the presidential and national assembly elections together with the governorship and state assembly elections that will take place on Saturday, March 18, 2023. This is not correct.
“The Commission has not scheduled the conduct of supplementary elections arising from the presidential and national assembly elections.
“For clarity, the supplementary elections will take place on a date to be announced by the Commission immediately after the governorship and state assembly elections.
“However, this should not be confused with the two national assembly elections earlier suspended by the Commission and rescheduled to hold along with the governorship and state assembly elections.
“First is the Enugu East Senatorial District election which was countermanded to allow the Labour Party conduct a fresh primary election to replace its deceased candidate in line with the provision of Section 34(1) of the Electoral Act 2022. The second is the Esan Central/Esan West/Igueben Federal Constituency of Edo State following issues with the ballot paper for the election. These are not supplementary, but main elections that could not be held earlier.
“The public is advised to disregard any report alluding to the conduct of supplementary elections alongside the governorship and state assembly elections tomorrow Saturday, March 18, 2023.”
