The Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) on Friday shifted the local government election to January 18, 2025.
ODIEC Chairman, Dr Joseph Aremo, made this announcement during a stakeholders’ meeting held at the commission’s headquarters in Akure.
Recall that the election was fixed for December 16, 2023, and later postponed to February 17, and later to July 13 and finally postponed indefinitely.
Aremo, who announced the new date, said, ”Election was never cancelled but rescheduled due to non-compliance of political parties with the electoral guidelines and processes."
He assured residents that the commission would conduct a free and fair election having transparency as the focus.
He urged political parties that had conducted primaries before the postponement to forward the validated list of candidates to the commission.
He said, “The completion of political parties’ primaries and validation of candidates will take place from November 25 to December 7.
“December 9 will be the last day for the submission of forms for particulars of candidates and the list of candidates by political parties.
“Substitution of candidates by political parties will occur from Dec. 12 to Dec. 13, while the collection and submission of nomination forms will begin from Dec. 16 until Dec. 18.
“Campaigns by political parties will kick off on Dec. 23 and end by midnight of Jan. 16, 2025."
The chairman said that the distribution of non-sensitive materials to the 18 local governments would take place from Jan. 6, 2025 to Jan. 10, 2025.