The Independent National Electoral Commission has concluded the continuous voter registration in Anambra State recording 168,187 new registrants.

The National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), INEC, Sam Olumekun, said this in a statement on Friday in Awka.

Mr Olumekun said the figure was the highest recorded within two weeks in the state since the commission introduced the process in 2017.

He said, “The CVR, which was initially scheduled to end on July 17, was extended by three days to July 20, 2025, in response to appeals from stakeholders. The turnout reflected the growing interest of citizens in the electoral process ahead of the November 8 off-cycle governorship election in Anambra State.’’

He said though these were preliminary figures pending data clean-up, the detailed breakdown showed that 97,832, (58 per cent) were females, while 70,355 (42 per cent) were males.

According to him, 90,763, representing 53.97 per cent, were young people between 18 and 34 years old.

He added that the occupational data shows that businessmen and women constituted the largest bloc with 62,157 registrants or 36.92 per cent, followed by students with 44,243 representing 26.31 per cent.

The commissioner said 303 persons with disabilities registered while 207 was identified as persons with albinism.

He stated, “A comprehensive demographic breakdown has been uploaded to the commission’s website and other digital platforms for public information.’’

He said that the next step in the registration process would be the display of the preliminary register of voters across the 326 wards from July 26 to August 1.

He said that during the period, the public would have the opportunity to inspect and raise claims or objections.

Mr Olumekun stated, “Once this is concluded and the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) is deployed to weed out multiple or ineligible entries, the new registrants will be added to the existing register. The complete list will be published on a polling unit basis.’’

Mr Olumekun assured residents that permanent voter cards for new voters, as well as those who requested transfers or replacements, would be ready before the election.

He added, “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 before the election.’’

He also said that the commission had completed internal testing of a newly developed portal for political party registration.

According to him, it was designed and built in-house by its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) department.

He stated, “As is the case with all our Information Technology (IT) innovations, the new portal has been demonstrated before the commission and approved for deployment.’’

He said that INEC was evaluating 144 letters of intent from political associations, including 10 new submissions received recently.

 (NAN)