INEC to begin ward to ward registration in Rivers, rules out registration of new parties

The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) in Rivers State has said the Commission will not register any new party for participation in the 2023 general election.

Speaking at a news conference in Port Harcourt on Thursday, the Resident Commissioner of INEC in the state, Obo Effanga, maintained that no new political party will be registered outside of the 18 already existing ones.

He explained that this is because the Commission had started processes to ensure that the newly signed Electoral Act is implemented.

Effanga said INEC in the state has so far registered about 173,000 voters in the newly created polling units across the state while noting that continuous registration of potential voters will end in June 2022.

According to him, “The continued voters’ registration will end by June, the registration had been held in every state and local government offices of INEC.

“The Commission from next week will start the rotational registration in wards on daily basis to register voters.”

He urged members of the public who are yet to register to go online and register at the 2,224 newly created polling units, while those already registered can transfer to new centres.

The Rivers INEC boss further disclosed that the Commission is working in collaboration with the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee to ensure that the 2023 election would be carried out successfully.