Ondo election: INEC publishes summary of polling, collation agents

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has published the summary of polling and collation agents uploaded to its portal for the Ondo State Governorship election.

This follows submissions made by political parties and the closure of the portal.

DAILY POST reports that the portal opened on 20th August 2024 and automatically shut down at midnight on Monday, 30th September 2024, as indicated in item 9 of the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election, which was released almost a year ago in September 2023.

In Ondo State, there are 3,933 polling units and 222 collation centres, consisting of 203 ward centres, 18 local government centres, and the State collation centre in Akure.

A political party fielding candidates in the election is expected to nominate 4,155 agents.

Out of the 18 parties participating in the election, the Commission expected a cumulative total of 74,790 agents.

However, INEC revealed that only 24,148 agents were uploaded to the portal, consisting of 22,689 polling agents, 1,249 ward agents, 196 local government agents, and 14 state collation agents.

Altogether, the 18 political parties nominated only 32.3% of the expected number of agents.

“Three political parties have no agents at any level of polling or collation,” INEC added in a statement signed by Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner & Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee.

“A detailed breakdown of the submissions has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information,” the statement added.