Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Tuesday said the country’s voting population had risen to 71,40,000.
Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who gave the update on the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise while receiving the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway, Mr. Kjemprud, in his office, also said there are 103 pending applications for political party registration.
He stated that the commission was working towards making the 2019 general election better than that of 2015.
A statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to INEC chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, quoted the INEC boss as saying that there were 70 million registered voters currently on the voter register, with additional 1,040,000 so far registered since the commencement of the CVR exercise on April 27, 2017.
He promised that the commission was working towards making the 2019 general election better than that of 2015.
He added: “We now have 45 political parties. We used to have 40 political parties, but five have just been registered, while there are 103 pending applications. We don’t know how many more we are going to register, but we are a multi-party democracy and all associations that meet the criteria for registration will be registered.â€
 In his remarks, Kjemprud commended INEC and Nigerians for the successful conduct of the 2015 general election.
He also lauded the commission for the steps taken so far since then to improve the electoral process.
The ambassador said Norway was prepared to do everything it could to assist the commission deliver on its mandate.
 Kjemprud also invited the INEC Chairman, Yakubu, and his team to observe the Norwegian parliamentary elections and undertake a study tour of his country between September 6 and 13  2017.
