It is cheering news that prospective voters were willing to come out and be registered to vote in the upcoming elections in Anambra State, as reports show that the just concluded Continuous Voters Registration witnessed an encouraging turnout.
The exercise was conducted in the 326 wards to update the voter register to include citizens who turned 18, after the last voter registration exercise; or those who couldn’t register in previous CVR exercises.
Uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were distributed during the exercise as well issues relating to the transfer of registered voters lost or omitted PVCs were addressed. More so, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) successfully launched its new Direct Data Capturing machine which it said was faster and more effective.
The CVR process in Anambra can be tagged a relative success as the commission was able to successfully deploy its staff to all the 326 wards of the state and there was no report relating to non-opening of any ward centre. The DDC machine introduced by the commission also worked efficiently. This means that all things being equal, an estimate of 20 people can be registered within an hour while at least 120 prospective voters could go through the DDC by the end of the six hours allotted for the CVR daily.
INEC officials in Anambra can get a pass mark as there was hardly any report on the violation of the electoral process during the entire five-day exercise as officials to a large extent confirmed the registration status of voters before registering them. While the collection of Permanent Voters Card was relatively low probably due to inability to collect by proxy, the issuance of Temporary Voters Card immediately after registration was well above 80 per cent.
The INEC has also made provisions to carry people with disabilities along in the forthcoming governorship election in the state. With this in place, it is obvious that the stage is set for the elections, but INEC must ensure that officials arrive on time on the day of the exercise. It should also work with security agents to guarantee safety of lives and property before, during and after the exercise.
Moshood Isah can be reached at: [email protected]
