Fourteen candidates from 14 political parties will participate in the Imo North Senate bye election slated for December 5.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Imo State, Prof. Francis Ezeonu said this at an interactive forum with journalists held at the INEC Headquarters in Owerri on Wednesday to give an update on preparations put in place for the election by the Commission.
Ezeonu regretted that the election earlier scheduled for Oct. 31, was cancelled because of the #EndSars crisis, prompting the commission to shift the election to Dec. 5. after meeting with relevant stakeholders.
He said that two INEC offices in the state were affected by the #EndSars problem, adding that while the Ehime Mbano INEC office was destroyed by fire with a lot of properties lost, that of Ezinihitte Mbaise was attacked but not burnt.
He said all is now set for the election with the training of both staff and adhoc, which ended on Wednesday while the office had taken delivery of COVID-19 materials to be used on election day to guide against people contracting the virus.
Ezeonu said that the commission had moved the election time from 8: 30 a.m to 2:30 pm and urged both the INEC officials and electorate to adhere strictly to the COVID-19 protocols.
The REC reechoed the introduction of election result viewing portal by the commission and urged the electorate to log in to view the results first time.
He said that no devices would be allowed into the polling booth to avoid the incident of vote buying.
According to him, sensitive election materials would be distributed from the CBN on Dec. 3 to the different LGAs of Imo North comprising Ehime Mbano, Ihitte Uboma, Isiala Mbano, Obowo, Okigwe and Onuimo.
Ezeonu said the commission would be meeting with heads of security personnel to discuss on security issues, stating that 3,660 staff would be working at the 692 polling units during the election.