#FCTDECIDES2022: OVER 400 CANDIDATES BATTLE FOR CHAIRMANSHIP, COUNCILLORSHIP POSITIONS (UPDATES)

Over 400 candidates and their running mates are currently vying for these positions.

It is election day in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Residents of the nation’s capital will go to the polls to elect chairmen and councillors for the six Area Councils.

The Area Councils are Abaji, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Kwali and Abuja Municipal (AMAC).

The election will see the emergence of six chairmen – for each area council, and 62 councillors.

Over 400 candidates and their running mates are currently vying for these positions.

They are drawn from 14 political parties cleared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to participate in the poll.

However, many believe the contest for the different positions is between the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

This is majorly because the two parties dominated in the previous FCT elections in 2019.

The APC had won the chairmanship seats in Abaji, Kwali, Gwagwalada and AMAC while the PDP won in Kuje and Bwari.

FCT ELECTION

INEC has said elections will not hold in 593 polling units as they have no registered voters.

Also, no materials were produced for these units and no personnel would be deployed to them.

Voting will take place in all the other polling units.

For congested polling units, INEC would deploy more BVAS (Card Readers) to ensure speedy accreditation of voters.

Besides the imbalance in the distribution of polling units, many have raised concerns over the poor representation of women in the candidacy.

Of the 55 candidates vying for chairmanship positions, only three are women and only eight females for the vice chairmanship position.

Also, there are only 31 females of the total of 363 candidates for councillorship positions.

Estreet News will be bringing you these updates and more about the election from the six area councils of the FCT.