L
LequteMan
Guest
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced the dates for the 2019 general elections.
Solomon Soyebi, INEC's National Commissioner for the south-west made the announcement at a press briefing on Thursday.
He said the presidential and national assembly elections will hold on the 16th of February, 2019 while the governorship and state assembly elections will hold on the 3rd of March 2019.
“Our democracy is maturing and the commission believes that there should be certainty with regard to the timetable for elections. For instance, in the United States, general elections always hold on the second Tuesday of November in the election year,” Soyebi said.
“In Ghana, it’s the 7th of December of the election year, while in other places like Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Costa Rica and Switzerland, the dates are also known in advance.
“In Nigeria, the constitution provides for elections to hold not earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days to the end of the incumbent’s tenure.
“In order to ensure certainty in our dates for elections, and to allow for proper planning by the commission, political parties, security agencies, candidates and all stakeholders, the commission has decided to fix the date for the national elections for the third Saturday in February of the election year, followed by state elections two weeks later.”
Solomon Soyebi, INEC's National Commissioner for the south-west made the announcement at a press briefing on Thursday.
He said the presidential and national assembly elections will hold on the 16th of February, 2019 while the governorship and state assembly elections will hold on the 3rd of March 2019.
“Our democracy is maturing and the commission believes that there should be certainty with regard to the timetable for elections. For instance, in the United States, general elections always hold on the second Tuesday of November in the election year,” Soyebi said.
“In Ghana, it’s the 7th of December of the election year, while in other places like Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Costa Rica and Switzerland, the dates are also known in advance.
“In Nigeria, the constitution provides for elections to hold not earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days to the end of the incumbent’s tenure.
“In order to ensure certainty in our dates for elections, and to allow for proper planning by the commission, political parties, security agencies, candidates and all stakeholders, the commission has decided to fix the date for the national elections for the third Saturday in February of the election year, followed by state elections two weeks later.”
