The Electoral Commission (EC) will receive nominations of candidates for this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections from September 9 to 13 in a major countdown to the climax of the political season.
This will be followed by the balloting for positions on the presidential ballot paper on September 23, 2024, and the parliamentary balloting on September 24, 2024.
Furthermore, the EC expects to declare the results of the 2024 presidential polls within three days of the voting exercise, if everything goes according to plan.
In its programme of activities for the 2024 general election, obtained exclusively by the Daily Graphic, the EC will conduct a voters’ registration exercise from May 7 to May 27, 2024, and proceed with a nationwide exercise to replace missing voter ID cards from May 30, 2024.
The registration exercise will, however, be preceded by 56 days of public education on the exercise from April 1 to May 26, 2024.
Per the schedule, available to the Daily Graphic, the EC intends to submit the provisional voters’ register to the political parties between July 9 and 18, 2024, and mount an exhibition of the voters register between July 15 and 24, 2024.
The final voters’ register is expected to be submitted to the political parties between August 30 and September 5, 2024.
Meetings
In between the datelines, the EC — per the schedule — will hold meetings with stakeholders outside the political parties frame, and also engage the public through its “Let the Citizen Know” series.
Sources within the EC said this exercise was intended to ensure that all stakeholders understood and appreciated the efforts towards a free and fair electoral process to eliminate any tendencies for suspicion and mistrust.
The exercise, the source said, would be in line with the EC’s mandate to ensure and enhance open and transparent operations of the electoral processes.
The sources at the EC told the Daily Graphic that the EC would be holding its Special Voting for selected professionals on December 2, five days before the main polls.
It will be opened for security agencies and accredited media practitioners who will be performing duties during election day on December 7, 2024.
All the dates are, however, subject to review, the sources indicated to the Daily Graphic.
Results
The sources said although there was no law requiring the EC to declare the results within a specified period, the EC intended to ensure that it would be able to declare the presidential results within a maximum of three days.
The sources indicated that the Regional Collation Centres would be maintained to announce the results at the regional level.