Over 500,000 likely voters in Ondo State might be disenfranchised in the October 10 governorship election following the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to embark on new registration of voters.
There are over 372, 888 uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in the state while the number of persons that have turned 18 since the last voter registration are said to be over 200,000.
The electoral body said it would not distribute PVCs, carry out transfer and replacement of lost or defaced PVCs owing to the ravaging Coronavirus.
Resident Electoral Commissioner for INEC in Ondo, Dr. Rufus Akeju, who stated these in Akure at a briefing, said the state has 1,822,346 registered voters with 1,478,470 PVCs collected.
Akeju urged political parties to play the game according to the dictate of the extant laws, regulations and guidelines of their political parties to promote democratic values.
Akeju stated that that countdown to the Ondo governorship election has begun and assured stakeholders of the commission non partisanship.
He said the new measures put in place was to mitigate the new challenge thrown up by COVID-19 pandemic.