VOTE BUYING: INEC FORBIDS PARTY REPRESENTATIVES FROM BRINGING POS TO POLLING PLACES

Party representatives or anybody associated with political parties are not permitted to bring Point of Sale (POS) devices to polling places in Anambra State, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Materials that could be used to entice voters to buy votes are also prohibited from voting places.

This was revealed by Dr. Elizabeth Agwu, the resident electoral commissioner for Anambra State, during a press conference on Friday in advance of the state's House of Assembly election on Saturday.

Agwu stated: "The commission will not tolerate vote buying. We will not allow party agents to take POS machines into the polling centres, or any other material that can be used to induce the people.

"We have 21 local governments and we have watched and distributed our materials down, most especially the ballot papers that are meant for the State Assembly elections and this has been properly and systematically outlined so that there won't be a mix- up.

"It is a tradition that we normally move our materials, particularly, the sensitive materials to the local governments, from the local governments to the RAC centres, then to the polling units.

"We're assuring that by 8:30 am on Saturday, voting is expected to have commenced across the polling units in the state. We have sorted out all issues concerning BVAS for the election, and we hope for optimal performance."