The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced the registration of 168,187 new voters in Anambra State as part of its preparations for the upcoming governorship election scheduled for November 8, 2025.
INEC said the figure represents the highest number of new registrants recorded within a two-week period in the state since the inception of the Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, exercise, which was introduced ahead of the 2017 governorship election in the state.
The update was contained in a statement issued on Thursday by INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Sam Olumekun, following the Commission’s weekly meeting held earlier in the day.
The Commission revealed that the CVR, which was initially scheduled to end on July 17, was extended by 12 days to July 29, 2025, in response to appeals by citizens and civil society organisations seeking more time for eligible voters to participate in the process.
“Although these are preliminary figures pending data clean-up, the detailed breakdown shows that 97,832 (58%) are female while 70,355 (42%) are male.
“In terms of age, 90,763 (53.97%) are young people aged 18-34 while the occupational distribution shows that 62,157 (36.92%) are businessmen/women while 44,243 (26.31%) are students.
“In terms of Persons with Disability (PWDs), 303 (24.92%) have physical impediment, followed by 207 (17.02%) with albinism. The detailed breakdown has been uploaded to our website and other platforms for public information,” he said.
According to Olumekun, the immediate next step is to display the preliminary register of new voters for claims and objections by citizens who are the ultimate owners of the register.
He noted that this will take place in all the 326 Wards in Anambra State from Saturday 26th July 2025 to Friday 1st August 2025.
“Once this process is concluded, including the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), the new registrants will be added to the existing register and published on Polling Unit basis ahead of the election.
“Thereafter, the Commission will announce the dates and locations for the collection of the Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) for new registrants and those who applied for transfer or replacement of their lost or damaged cards.
“The PVCs from previous registration will also be available for collection. With 105 days to the election, the Commission is aware of the tight timelines but we wish to reassure all new registrants in Anambra State that their PVCs will be available for collection ahead of the election,” he said.
On update about registration of new parties, he said “in our last press release, we assured Nigerians that we are finalising the necessary tests on the party registration portal designed and built in-house by our ICT officials.
“As is the case with all our IT innovations, the new portal has been demonstrated before the Commission and approved for deployment.
He assured that the Commission is evaluating all numerous letters of intent received so far to determine the associations that meet the requirements to proceed to the application stage, adding that a report is expected at our next regular meeting.
He further disclosed that the Commission has received 10 more letters of intent from associations seeking registration as political parties, bringing the number so far to 144.
“The details of the new associations, including their names, acronyms, logos, addresses and interim leaderships are published on our website and other platforms for public information,” he said.
Olumekun assured that the commission will continue to update Nigerians on all its activities ahead of the governorship polls and others.
