The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said it will release the final voters’ register to political parties after the revising courts complete their work. Addressing the IEC’s monthly stakeholder engagement yesterday, Chairman Joseph Colley said his institution expects magistrates to complete the process and sign the register by Friday, October 23, paving the way for the removal of names ordered to be expunged by the courts.
“By next week, we will do the expunging and then the number of polling stations and voters will be made known to everybody,” he said.
The chairman’s declaration came on the heels of a hot demand by the main opposition UDP which asked for clarification over the 2026 supplementary voter registration figures. The party said the IEC announced 212,095 registrations, while a dataset provided to it contained 183,163 records, leaving a difference of 28,932. It then demanded a detailed registration data, including figures before and after duplicate records were removed, and an explanation of the verification process.
However, Mr Colley said the Commission could not release the final register before the revising courts completed their work, and that the law provides magistrates with 60 days to examine the provisional lists.
He said the IEC had replied to the party’s correspondence and would provide the final register to all political parties in accordance with the law.
“The law says we give the soft copy. So we will give it,” he said, adding that the register would combine the 2021 register with the finalised 2026 supplementary registration data.
The chairman further explained that all political parties would receive the same information, including independent candidates.
He added that the final figures would include the total number of registered voters nationwide specifying the total number of registered voters assigned to each polling station. He said the IEC is also preparing to assess polling stations once the registration process is completed.
Colley assured stakeholders that the IEC is committed to ensuring transparent and inclusive elections, urging political parties to follow the legal process.
