Ahead of next month’s conduct of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the total number of registered voters.

At the stakeholders’ meeting with political parties, held at the Commission headquarters, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the FCT, Malam Aminu Idris, who described the exercise as a critical constitutional requirement in the Commission’s preparations for the election, put the figure of registered voters at 1,680,315.

Idris, who disclosed that the total number of registered voters in the FCT in 2023 was 1,570,307 recalled that INEC resumed the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise on August 18, 2025, beginning with online pre-registration and followed by physical registration nationwide from September 29, 2025.

He explained that, In compliance with Section 9(6) of the Electoral Act, 2022, the CVR was suspended in the FCT on October 12, 2025, to allow the Commission revise the Register of Voters for the Area Council Election.

The FCT REC disclosed that 62 councillorship seats and six chairmanship positions will be contested across the FCT.

He enumerated activities already undertaken by the Commission to include the monitoring of party primaries, publication of final lists of candidates, commencement of campaign monitoring, receipt of non-sensitive materials, activation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), voter education and sensitisation, stakeholder engagement, and collaboration with security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).

Idris also announced that Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for newly registered voters, as well as those who applied for transfer or updates during the CVR exercise, had been delivered to the FCT, while assuring that the Commission would announce the commencement date for PVC collection in due course.

The FCT REC urged political parties and candidates to sustain the prevailing peaceful atmosphere in the FCT and intensify voter mobilisation ahead of the election.

At the stakeholders meeting, INEC also announced the resumption of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise in the 21 Local Government Area offices in Anambra State.

Checks revealed that the exercise was suspended last July to enable the Commission clean up the voters’ register, as well as produce and distribute Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the last November governorship election in the state.

According to INEC, the resumption of the CVR “is expected to provide eligible voters the opportunity to register, update their records, apply for replacement of lost or damaged PVCs, and transfer their voting locations ahead of the 2027 General Election.” (Nigerian Tribune)