Anambra guber: Seven political parties yet to submit schedules of primaries – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said seven political parties were yet to submit detailed schedules of their primary elections for the November 8, Anambra governorship election.

However, the commission disclosed that 12 out of the 19 registered political parties had submitted the detailed schedules ahead of the primary election scheduled between March 20 and April 10, 2025.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun who said this on Thursday asked the remaining political parties to submit their schedule in earnest.

Olumekun urged political parties to adhere strictly to their proposed schedules as sudden changes to the dates, venues and modes of the primaries lead to avoidable demobilisation and remobilisation of INEC monitoring staff, thereby disrupting its workflow.

“The Commission held its regular weekly meeting today, Thursday 6th March 2025. Among other issues, the Commission reviewed its preparations for the forthcoming off-cycle Governorship election in Anambra State, scheduled for Saturday 8th November 2025.

“The public may recall that in line with the provision of Section 28(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, the Commission published the Notice of Election on 13th November 2024, over 360 days before the date fixed for the election. By the provision of the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election, the conduct of primaries for nomination of candidates by Political Parties commences in the next two weeks i.e. 20th March 2025 and ends on 10th April 2025.

“So far, 12 out of the 19 registered Political Parties in the country have submitted the detailed schedules of their primaries. As agreed at our last consultative meeting with Political Parties held in January, doing so early will enable the Commission to plan for the effective monitoring of the primaries in line with the provision of Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022. The seven parties that are yet to submit the required information are hereby reminded to do so in earnest.

“Furthermore, we urge Political Parties to adhere strictly to their proposed schedules. Sudden changes to the dates, venues and modes of the primaries lead to avoidable demobilisation and remobilisation of our monitoring staff, thereby disrupting the Commission’s workflow. This also adds to the cost of monitoring primaries and the overall conduct of elections and electoral activities,” he stated.

By Ayanfe Akintola