Following the conclusion of the Presidential and National Assembly elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission has declared the results amidst ongoing legal battles. The focus has now shifted to the upcoming elections for governors and state assembly members, set to take place on Saturday, March 18, 2023.
Eight states, including Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun, and Ondo, have delayed their governorship elections due to litigations and court rulings, while the remaining 28 states will hold their elections as scheduled.
There are 18 political parties with candidates for the governorship elections. In addition, the State Houses of Assembly seats will be contested by thousands of candidates across all 36 states of the federation.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has introduced new technologies, including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and the Result Viewing Portal (IReV), to aid in the accreditation and electronic transmission of votes. The IReV and BVAS will be used in the upcoming elections despite opposition parties’ skepticism about the process. The Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party, in particular, have criticized the Presidential election and accused INEC of not complying with Section 60 of the Electoral Act 2022 regarding the electronic transmission of results.