The Independent National Electoral Commission has said a total of 55,859 permanent voter cards have been collected by prospective voters within five days from the last continuous voter registration in Ondo state.

The commission has fixed November 16 for the state’s off-cycle governorship election.

The INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, disclosed this in a statement to journalists in Akure, the state capital, on Tuesday.

Mr Olumekun said the PVCs were collected between October 17 and 21, 2024 in the 203 wards of the state.

He said, “Over a period of five days (17-21 October 2024), the commission made the permanent voter cards from the last continuous voter registration in Ondo State available for collection in all the 203 wards across the state. The commission is pleased to announce that at the end of the five-day period, 55,859 cards were personally collected by new registrants as well as applicants for transfer and replacement of lost or damaged cards as provided by law.

“This figure represents 62.2% of the 89,777 cards available for collection. This is the highest percentage of PVCs collected in five days in Ondo State since the commission introduced the CVR in 2015.’’

According to him, a breakdown of the collection by various LGAs of the state has been uploaded to the commission’s website and social media platforms for public information.

He said, “Meanwhile, the collection will resume in our 18 LGA offices in Ondo State from tomorrow Wednesday 23rd to Tuesday 29th October 2024 from 9.00am to 5.00pm daily (including the weekend). Detailed information on the locations of our LGA offices in the “state is already available on our website. We appeal to the remaining voters to pick up their PVCs in person from our LGA offices. The commission reiterates its policy that no cards will be collected by proxy.”

Recall that INEC had said a total of 2.053 million registered voters will participate in the November 16 governorship election in Ondo State.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Oluwatoyin Babalola, who disclosed this in Akure, at a briefing with journalists a fortnight ago, said the electoral body was prepared for a free and fair election.

Mrs Babalola added that the commission would also give the political parties a level-playing ground in the governorship election.