2023: Online Petition Urging INEC To Include Pictures, Name Of Candidates On Ballot Papers Nears 25,000 Target

Around 23,700 people have signed an online petition demanding the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to include the names and pictures of candidates on ballot papers.

www.bigpenngr.com reports that the petition which was hosted on the world largest petition platform, change.org is targeting 25,000 signatures before it would becomes a policy document for consideration.

The petition which was started by Otuto Chukwuocha about few days ago has approximately over 23, 700 signatures as of Tuesday evening on the online platform.

A message running on the website says “we only need 1,279 more signatures to reach the next goal” as at when this report was filled for publication.

Presenting the petition, Chukwuocha said that including the names and pictures of candidates on the ballot paper is imperative to ensuring voter education as it would make voting easier, especially for those who are not very literate.

He also said that the initiative would also help voters identify their candidate of choice with ease.

From available information, INEC usually prints the logo of political parties on the ballot papers.

However, section 42 (1) of the Electoral Act gives INEC the power to include any other information on the ballot paper as it may require

“The Commission shall prescribe the format of the ballot papers which shall include the symbol adopted by the political party of the candidate and such other information as it may require,” the section reads.

Findings indicate that Ireland and Uganda are among countries that include names and pictures of candidates on ballot papers, while the United States, United Kingdom and most European countries include only the name of candidates on the ballot papers.

The Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election is expected to be a three horse race among the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party candidates, Peter Obi respectively.