The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Anambra State says it requires
about 20,000 personnel to conduct a hitch-free and successful
governorship election...
The State Resident Electoral
Commissioner, Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji, who said this yesterday in Awka
during a two-day workshop with Civil Society Situation Room in
preparation for the governorship election, said the commission had
already commenced training of those on ground.
Orji said the workshop was targeted at
providing platform for the civil societies to interact with the INEC
management to review the activities so far carried out by the commission
in order to make plans for the future.
He said that a total of 35 candidates
from various registered political parties emerged from the party’s
primaries. He, however, said that some of the parties conducted theirs
without the presence of the electoral umpire.
He listed the three elements that would
define the election to include the pro-Biafra agitators, general
discontentment in the entire South East region as well as the security
challenges in the region which might rob off in the electoral process.
On the challenges already being faced by
the commission, Orji highlighted funding, erratic power supply,
bureaucratic delays, discontentment on the part of the electorate, as
major ones, but expressed optimism in the ability of the commission to
scale through.
Earlier, the convener of the conference
and Executive Director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Clement
Nwankwo, described the Anambra election as crucial to the body in view
of its peculiarity.
Nwankwo said the poll would not only
serve as a test run to the 2019 general elections, but would send a
signal on the maturity of the nation’s democracy.
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