The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it had distributed 1.2 million Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in Ondo state ahead of Nov. 26 governorship election in the state.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, made this known at a news conference in Akure on Tuesday, and added that the distributed cards was as at Aug. 11, 2016.

Agbaje said that a total of 331, 078 PVCs were yet to be collected by their owners. He said a total of 1, 531, 771 PVCs were received in the state before the continuous voter registration carried out in the state about two months ago. He congratulated the 30 political parties that would participate in the election for the successful conduct of their primary elections.

The REC advised politicians on violent-free campaigns, saying “it is my belief that a peaceful campaign is a likely harbinger to the conduct of a peaceful election”. He said that INEC had a good relationship with all the existing political parties in the state. “I wish to mention that the commission has cordial and robust relationship with all the political parties in the state.

“Meanwhile, the commission has commenced an aggressive, persistent and sustained voter education, mobilisation and public enlightenment campaigns to create awareness ahead of the election.

“Essentially, the voter education campaigns are geared towards preventing voter apathy and to appeal to citizens to shun violence before, during and after the election,” he said.

Agbaje also disclosed that 3, 009 Presiding Officers (POs), 9,029 Assistant Presiding Officers I, II and III (APOs) would be deployed for the election. He added that the officers would service the 3, 009 polling units in the 18 local government areas of the state.