2023 Elections: PVC Mandatory For Voting – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has restated its stand that the use of the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) is mandatory for the 2023 general election.

The commission said no voter would be allowed to vote without the PVC, adding that eligible voters would provide their PVCs at voting points before they would be allowed to vote, in line with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act.

INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, announced this at an induction retreat for new Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) in Lagos.

The INEC boss urged the electorate to disregard misleading statement shared online, which claimed that voters could vote on Election Day without the PVC.

He stressed that nothing has changed about the commission’s “no PVC, no voting” policy.

Yakubu said: “Let me seize this opportunity to comment on two issues. First is the misleading statement shared online that voters can vote on Election Day without the voter’s card. This is absolutely incorrect. For any person to vote in any election organised by the commission, he or she must be a registered voter issued with a PVC.

“The commission has consistently maintained the policy of ‘no PVC, no voting’. Nothing has changed. It is a legal requirement, and doing otherwise will be a violation of the law. I appeal to Nigerians to ignore any suggestion to the contrary.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Section 47(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 provides that ‘a person intending to vote in an election shall present himself with his voter’s card to a Presiding Officer for accreditation at the Polling Unit in the constituency in which his name is registered’.

“Therefore, the position of the law is clear. The PVC remains a mandatory requirement for voting during elections.”