INEC targets Feb 2024 for 34 re-run polls

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it is targeting the first week of February 2024 to conduct re-run and bye-elections in 34 federal and state constituencies.

The INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this on Monday at an extraordinary consultative meeting with political parties held at the INEC headquarters Abuja.

This is as the INEC boss also said that the 34 constituencies constitute 2.8 per cent of the 1,191 petitions filed by litigants.

He said so far, the Election Petition Appeal Tribunals have ordered the commission to conduct re-run elections in 34 constituencies made up of one senatorial district, 11 federal constituencies and 22 state assembly constituencies.

He said the commission intends to combine and conduct the two categories of elections on the same day.

Yakubu said out of the 34 re-run elections, it is only in three cases that the commission was ordered to conduct elections in the entire constituencies, while in the other 31 constituencies, elections are to be held in a few polling units (PUs).

He added that at the end of the consultative meeting, the commission will meet to review preparations and announce a definite date, including the detailed timetable and schedule of activities for the elections.