On Wednesday, September 28, Nigeria’s presidential and National Assembly elections officially began.
All political parties are required to begin their public campaigning “150 days before voting day [Editor’s note: September 28] and conclude 24 hours prior to that day,” as stated in Section 94(1) of the Electoral Act 2022.
On September 20, the Commission released its Timetable and Schedule of Activities as well as the final list of candidates for the presidential, senate, and house elections as specified in Section 32(1) of the Electoral Act 2022.
To succeed Mohammadu Buhari as the 16th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 18 contenders are running.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, of Nigeria announced its list of 18 presidential candidates on Tuesday. Only one of them is a woman.
Starting on October 12, candidates for governor and state houses of assembly will go on the offensive.
On September 1st, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) made a plea to “all political parties and candidates to focus on issue-based campaigns” at a meeting hosted by the Centre for Democracy and Development.
“This is the best way to complement our efforts to ensure transparent elections in which only the votes cast by citizens determine the winner”, Mahmood Yakubu added.
95 million voters were expected to cast ballots in the election in February, according to the electoral commission. Many of the more than 200 million residents of the most populous nation in Africa have suffered because of security and economic difficulties.
According to the most recent government figures, Nigeria, one of the continent’s leading oil producers, is struggling with a 33% unemployment rate and a 40% poverty rate.
Along with military conflict that is currently spreading to portions of the northwest and southeast, the nation has also had to deal with an insurgency by Islamic extremist rebels in the northeast.
