The National Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), which gave Friday, June 17, 2022 as the deadline for the presentation of names of presidential candidates by all political parties, has also instructed that by that Friday, June 17, any presidential candidate’s name that is not accompanied by the name of the running mate will be considered invalid.

The electoral umpire also issued Friday 15 July, 2022 as a deadline for the parties to submit names of gubernatorial candidates and their running mates.

This development has thrown to the fore, the politics of chosing running mates for the emerging presidential and governorship candidates.

INEC  also instructed the politicalparties to submit the list of their candidates and their running mates online to reduce physical contact with the political parties.

INEC gave the instructions on its Twitter page on Wednesday, where it stated: “All nominations must be uploaded on/before the deadlines.”

It continues: “The portal will automatically shut down at 6.00pm (1800hrs) on Friday 17th June 2022 for national elections and 6.00pm (1800hrs) on Friday 15th July 2022 for State elections.”

The electoral umpire explains, “With this innovation, the Commission has eliminated the physical interface between party officials and INEC staff for the purpose of submitting the list of candidates for the 2023 General Election.”

“For emphasis, the Commission wishes to remind Political Parties that only the names of candidates that emerged from democratic primaries as provided by Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 shall be submitted to the Commission.

“Similarly, the list of all Presidential and Governorship candidates must be accompanied by the names of their running mates (i.e. Vice Presidential and Deputy Governorship candidates) without which the nomination is invalid,” INEC said.