INEC Approves Additional Guidelines for Elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approved additional guidelines to the existing 2015 guidelines and regulations for the conduct of elections in the country.


One of the new additions to the election guidelines is approved continuous accreditation and voting procedure at elections, which was experimented on during the recent re- run elections in Bayelsa and Rivers states as well as the council poll in the Federal Capital Territory.

In a statement issued on Thursday, INEC said that for the time being, it has decided that the following shall constitute a supplement to the existing guidelines and regulations at elections.

The following are included in the supplementary guidelines of the electoral system:
- Continuous accreditation and
- Voting System

It said: “the accreditation process shall comprise authentication and verification of voters using the Smart Card Reader (SCR), checking of the Register of Voters, and inking of the cuticle of the specified finger while “ballot paper shall be issued in the prescribed manner by the Presiding Officer of a Polling Unit/Voting Point (Settlement) of the FCT, and the Assistant Presiding Officer, APO (VP), in the case of a Voting Point (VP)”.

According to the statement, “all procedures specified in the guidelines and regulations for the conduct of the 2015 general elections remain in effect”.