More than 1.9 million voters are eligible to participate in Saturday’s Osun governorship election after collecting their Permanent Voter Cards, the Independent National Electoral Commission said.
INEC said 1,906,390 PVCs had been collected out of 2,339,233 registered voters in the state.
The figure represents an 81.5% collection rate, leaving 432,843 PVCs uncollected.
The commission released the figures Thursday as final preparations intensified for the election, which will be held across Osun’s 30 local government areas.
INEC said the uncollected PVCs had been secured in the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria and would remain there until after the election.
The electoral body also disclosed that some voters whose cards were damaged, defaced or lost applied for replacement.
Of those applicants, 6,101 printed downloadable copies of their PVCs, according to INEC.
“Similarly, it should be noted that some persons with damaged, defaced, or lost PVCs applied for replacement of their cards,” the commission said.
INEC said it had published a polling-unit-by-polling-unit breakdown of the PVCs collected on its website.
The commission also reassured political parties, civil society groups, the media and voters that it was ready to conduct a “free, fair, credible, transparent, and inclusive election.”
Saturday’s election will be conducted in 3,763 polling units across the state, with 14 political parties and candidates on the ballot.
Security agencies have also stepped up preparations, with thousands of personnel deployed across the state ahead of the poll.
The election is expected to be closely contested, with incumbent Gov. Ademola Adeleke, APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji and ADC candidate Najeem Salaam among the leading contenders.
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