The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has published and presented the revised Register of Voters for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) ahead of the February 21, 2026, Area Council Election, with the total number of registered voters rising to 1,680,315.
This was disclosed in a statement released on Wednesday by INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mrs Victoria Eta-Messi.
According to the statement, the presentation took place in Abuja during a stakeholders’ meeting with political parties, where the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the FCT, Malam Aminu Idris, described the exercise as a critical constitutional requirement in the Commission’s preparations for the election.
The REC recalled that INEC resumed the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise on August 18, 2025, starting with online pre-registration and followed by physical registration across the country from September 29, 2025.
He explained that in line with Section 9(6) of the Electoral Act, 2022, the CVR was suspended in the FCT on October 12, 2025, to enable the Commission to revise the Register of Voters for the Area Council Election.
“The revision process, carried out pursuant to Section 10(6) of the Electoral Act, involved biometric de-duplication of the register, its display for claims and objections, and the compilation of a supplementary list arising from the exercise,” Idris said.
He noted that the revised register now supersedes all previous registers used in the FCT.
Malam Idris disclosed that the total number of registered voters in the FCT increased from 1,570,307 recorded in 2023 to 1,680,315, adding that detailed statistics were made available to political parties at the meeting.
He also briefed stakeholders on INEC’s level of preparedness for the February 21, 2026, Area Council Election, which will fill 62 councillorship seats and six chairmanship positions across the FCT.
Activities already carried out by the Commission, according to him, include monitoring of party primaries, publication of final lists of candidates, commencement of campaign monitoring, receipt of non-sensitive materials, activation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), voter education and sensitisation, stakeholder engagement, and collaboration with security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security.
The REC urged political parties and candidates to maintain the prevailing peaceful atmosphere in the FCT and intensify voter mobilisation ahead of the polls.
He further announced that Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for newly registered voters, as well as those who applied for transfer or updates during the CVR exercise, have been delivered to the FCT, noting that the Commission would announce the commencement date for PVC collection in due course.
In a related development, INEC has resumed the Continuous Voter Registration exercise in Anambra State.
The CVR exercise in the state was suspended on July 20, 2025, to allow the Commission to clean up the voters’ register and produce and distribute PVCs ahead of the November 8, 2025, governorship election.
The resumption of CVR at the Anambra State office and the 21 Local Government Area offices is expected to enable eligible voters to register, update their records, replace lost or damaged PVCs, and transfer their voting locations ahead of the 2027 General Election.
