With less than two months to the 2023 general elections, Nigerians are already trooping out in their numbers to pick up their voting cards ahead of the next month’s presidential election.

The presidential election will see three frontline candidates slug it out at the polls to replace the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

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The candidates include: Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP; Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP.

INEC and voting population

According to the Nearly 10 million new voters have been registered for the February 25 ballot, of whom 84 percent are young people aged under 34 — a key block of ballots.

Amid growing concerns about insecurity, high living costs, and increasing poverty, many young voters have expressed determination to be fully part of the election process.

Crowds gather at Lagos schools

Crowds gathered at Lagos schools over the weekend where election officials called out names, checked off lists, and handed out a coveted ID, the biometric Permanent Voting Cards or PVC.

Some would-be voters were successful but others were frustrated to be told to come back.

PVC collection and deadline

Recall that INEC, last week extended the deadline for PVC collection by eight days.

In some states 100,000 cards were collected in just five days, it said.

Past elections and challenges

The elections in the past have been marred by logistical delays, violence, and claims of fraud and vote buying.

In 2019, INEC was forced to postpone the election by a week just hours before voting was scheduled to start because of difficulty getting material to polling stations.

INEC officials say 2023’s ballot will be more transparent after the introduction of electronic transfer of results and a biometric voter identification technology known as BVAS at the voting stations to stop fraud.