The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed it is preparing to conduct a run-off presidential election.
This will be done if no candidate meets the conditional requirements to be declared winner after the 25 February poll.
INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, hinted this during a meeting with Bureau Chiefs/Editors of media organisations on Friday in Abuja.
Okoye noted that it has been INEC’s tradition for all elections conducted since 1999.
“18 candidates will be on the ballot for the first election.
“The Constitution has made it very clear two candidates who will be on the ballot are: one among the candidates who scored the highest number of votes at the election, the one that scored the highest number of votes at the election.
“The second candidate that will be on the ballot will be one among the remaining candidates who have the majority of votes in the highest number of states,” Okoye explained.
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (All Progressive Congress, APC), Peter Obi (Labour Party, LP) and Atiku Abubakar (Peoples Democratic Party, PDP) are widely believed to be the frontrunners for next year’s election.