The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Wednesday said it would not register new voters ahead of the governorship election in Ondo state.
The Commission has fixed October 10, 2020 for the gubernatorial election while both the ruling All Progressive Congress and opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have showed interest in the election.
No fewer than 20 aspirants are seeking to contest the ticket of the two major political party election.
Speaking at a stakeholders meeting in Akure, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Rufus Akeju said there would be no Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) and distribution of Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) in the state again before the governorship poll.
According to him, the development was due to the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic with the rising cases in the state.
Akeju added that the commission was already mapping out ways of mitigating the challenges posed by the virus ahead of the governorship election.
He noted that out of the 1,822,346 registered voters in the state, 1,478,460 have so far collected their PVC while 372,888 PVC are yet to be collected.
He said, “It is extremely important for me to inform you that the Commission has suspended the Continuous Voter Registration exercise and the implication is that, the window of opportunity for new registrants to register, distribution of Permanent Voter Cards, transfer of registration and replacement of lost or defaced PVCs ‘etc has been shut for the meantime owing to the ravaging pandemic”.
