INEC COMMENCE DISTRIBUTION OF PVC FOR 2025 FCTA COUNCIL ELECTIONS.

BY SANDRA KENNETH

The Independent National Electoral Commission has announced plans to commence the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards for the 2026 Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections this week, ahead of the February 21 polls.

INEC officials familiar with the exercise confirmed the development.

Another official, who has knowledge of the commission’s election timetable, disclosed that the exercise would span several days.

The PVC distribution will cover newly registered voters, as well as those who applied for transfer of registration or requested updates to their voter details during the Continuous Voter Registration exercise.

The development follows INEC’s recent confirmation that 1,680,315 registered voters have been cleared to participate in the FCT Area Council elections.

The revised voters’ register was produced after the suspension of the CVR exercise in the FCT in October 2025 to allow biometric de-duplication, public display of the register for claims and objections, and the compilation of a supplementary voters’ list.

INEC records indicate that about 93,868 PVCs remain uncollected at the commission’s FCT office, underscoring the need for eligible voters to take advantage of the exercise ahead of the polls.

The commission also disclosed that the backlog of uncollected PVCs from previous registrations would be made available for collection at designated centres during the distribution period.

Political campaigns for the elections, which commenced on September 24, 2025, are expected to end at midnight on February 19, 2026.

INEC has released the final list of candidates for the polls, with aspirants from 17 political parties successfully submitting their nomination forms.

The commission is currently undertaking other preparatory activities, including campaign monitoring, receipt of non-sensitive election materials, activation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, voter education and sensitisation, stakeholder engagement, and collaboration with security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security.

Sixty-eight positions will be contested in the election, comprising six chairmanship seats and 62 councillorship seats across the six area councils of the FCT—Abuja Municipal, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Kwali and Abaji.