THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) deadline in Ondo and Edo States by four days.
This was disclosed in a statement by INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, on Tuesday, June 4.
Originally scheduled to end on Wednesday, June 5, the exercise will now go on till Sunday, June 9, to allow more eligible voters to register ahead of the elections.
The INEC commissioner said the decision was reached during a meeting held by the commission on Tuesday, following appeals from stakeholders in both states.
“Furthermore, the number of centres has been increased beyond the 397 wards and the two State offices in Benin City and Akure to include all the 36 Local Government offices of the commission in the two states.
“More machines will also be deployed to areas identified to have peculiar needs such as difficult terrain or communal issues,” the statement stated.
The exercise will be held between 9.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m. daily until the new deadline.
More female voters registered
According to the statement by INEC, more women have registered ahead of the forthcoming elections than men in the states.
The commission disclosed that there were 120,458 new voters in the states. Nearly 54 per cent of these are women, while about 46 per cent are male.
Although women are underrepresented in governance, they have accounted for the larger population of registered voters in recent elections.
During the 2023 general elections that ushered in the current President President Bola Tinubu-led government, Nigerian women also accounted for more than 50 per cent of registered voters across the country.
Meanwhile, INEC said nearly 69 per cent of the registered voters in both Edo and Ondo states are youths, and less than one per cent of the new voters are persons with disabilities (PWDs).
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.