INEC Invites Applications from Interested Rerun, By-election Observers

Civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who are interested in observing the February rerun and by-election have been invited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)   to apply via an online portal on or before January 17.

The acting Director, of Electoral Party Monitoring (EPM), Mrs Hauwa Habib, of the electoral umpire stated this on Thursday in Abuja.

Habib urged the organizations to visit (http://observergroups.inecnigeria.org) and complete the application form.

She clarified that this did not affect any earlier interaction with the Commission and that completing the required application form (EC14A(l)) remained the sole way to apply that was still approved.

Habib said, “Observer groups should particularly note that all other information, including legal status (registration with CAC), evidence of registration with the Civil Society Desk at INEC-Headquarters, evidence of registration, previous election observation with INEC (if any), acknowledgment of submission of reports of observation (if any), should accompany the application.

“Any falsification of documents in the submissions will lead to automatic disqualification and possible prosecution.

“The deadline for submission of applications is January 17, 2024.

“The list of successful observer groups approved for accreditation will subsequently be published on the commission’s website and the EPM observer’s WhatsApp platform,” Habib said.

According to her, there were openings in two senatorial districts, four federal seats, and three state constituencies, which encompassed nine states in the Federation, for the by-election and rerun elections.

She continued by saying that INEC was carrying out the by-election/rerun election that followed the general elections of 2023 by the directives of several election petition appeal tribunals.

“Currently, 35 constituencies are affected by these court-ordered elections; while three cover entire constituencies, others involve only a few polling units.

“Both categories of elections are scheduled to take place simultaneously in all affected constituencies on Saturday, Feb. 3,” Habib added.