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Nigeria’s election fee has postponed the West African nation’s March 11 gubernatorial election, an official introduced late Wednesday, citing logistics challenges.
The election for brand spanking new governors for 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states will now be held on March 18. The transfer will enable extra time for voting machines utilized in final month’s presidential and legislative elections to be reconfigured and deployed for the upcoming vote, mentioned Festus Okoye, a spokesman for Nigeria’s Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee, in an announcement.
The gubernatorial vote is a part of Nigeria’s basic elections for four-year single phrases for main political positions, together with final month’s presidential vote gained by the ruling celebration’s Bola Tinubu. That final result is being contested by the opposition.
Forward of the gubernatorial election, an area courtroom on Wednesday authorised the electoral physique’s request to reset the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, or BVAS machines — a part of new applied sciences closely used this 12 months in Nigeria elections to make them extra clear.
Nonetheless, that courtroom ruling got here “far too late” for the machines to be reset in time to be used within the March 11 election, forcing a one-week extension within the date, the electoral physique mentioned.
“This determination has not been taken frivolously however it’s essential to make sure that there may be ample time to again up the info saved on the over 176,000 BVAS machines from the Presidential and Nationwide Meeting elections” and reconfigure them for the approaching elections, mentioned Okoye, the electoral physique’s spokesman.
Observer teams have criticized the election fee over technological issues that marred the presidential election. These glitches have develop into a significant spotlight within the a number of challenges filed by the opposition in opposition to the ruling celebration’s victory within the presidential election.
The 2 important opposition events have mentioned the glitches gave room for votes to be tampered with and that the electoral physique didn’t observe its personal guidelines and the nation’s personal election legal guidelines in asserting a winner. Runner-up Atiku Abubakar is looking for the cancellation of the presidential election whereas the candidate who completed third, Peter Obi, has mentioned he has proof he gained the competition.
The electoral physique mentioned late Wednesday that it’s not in opposition to the opposition elevating authorized challenges to the presidential election consequence. In accordance with Okoye, its spokesman, officers “will proceed to grant all litigants entry to the supplies they require to pursue their instances in courtroom.”
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