From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
Anambra State Resident Electoral Commission (REC) of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nkwachukwu Orji, yesterday, disclosed the commission will relocate 1,112 polling units located in shrines, royal father’s houses, churches, house of political office holders and others in the state.
Orji stated this during a stakeholders’ forum on expansion of voters access to polling units in Awka, the state capital.
According to him, such polling units situated in inappropriate places hinder voters’ access to voting during elections.
“Those polling units in such inappropriate places are not good for our elections. Most time, people see them as personal polling units. We want to make the polling units accessible to all voters,” he said.
Orji said the commission will also increase the polling units in the state from 4,608 to 5,720 to give access to more voters.
He also regretted that less than 30 percent of registered voters in the state cast their votes in the last general election.
He called on the stakeholders to mobilise voters to actively participate in the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
Orji also disclosed voters registration in the state would commence on June 28 to get those who were not eligible last time but eligible now to participate in the election.
Commending the commission for expanding the electoral access, Anambra Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chairman, Ndubisi Nwobu, and Special Adviser to governor Willie Obiano on Political Matters, Ifeatu Obiokoye, regretted that INEC took such decision without seeking inputs from the stakeholders in the state.