INEC CREATES 1,235 NEW POLLING UNITS IN IMO
Reporter : CHINAZO ILECHUKWU
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has created one thousand, two hundred and thirty-five new polling units to enhance voter access to electoral services in Imo State.
With the creation, Imo State now has a total of four thousand seven, hundred and fifty-eight polling units spread across the twenty-seven local government areas of the state.
The Resident Electoral Commission in Imo State, Professor Francis Ezeonu, announced this while briefing journalists on the activities of the Commission in Owerri.
He said the new polling units were carved out of the existing voting points and voting point settlements, which were created in 2011 to address overcrowding arising from the emergence of settlements that were not in existence when polling units were created.
Professor Ezeonu explained that the creation of new polling units was part of measures to address declining voter turnout during elections and maintain safety at polling units by way of physical distancing in line with COVID-19 preventive measures.
Professor Ezeonu noted that Electoral Officers at the local government areas had undertaken a painstaking exercise of identifying suitable places for locating the new polling units and geo-referencing them using Global Positioning System coordinates.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner said it was the policy of the commission to insist that only spacious public places with adequate shelter where people would not be denied access during elections would be used as polling units.
The Commissioner said that the names and delineation data of the new polling units would be published as soon as the ongoing verification was concluded.
