The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approved an extension of the deadline for the submission of the list of candidates for the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections for the February 2027 General Election on its dedicated portal.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, announced this in a statement on Saturday night.

He said the extension followed growing appeals by political parties for additional time to complete the process.

The commission said the submission window, which, according to the revised Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the General Election, was originally scheduled to close on Saturday, August 8, 2026, had been extended to Tuesday, August 11, 2026.

In a related development, the commission notified voters who applied for the replacement of lost, damaged or defaced Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) that the window to print downloadable copies of their cards would expire at midnight on Sunday, August 9, 2026.

According to INEC, the extension was to allow the commission to compile data on downloaded PVCs for the final statistics of the total number of PVCs collected ahead of the August 15 Osun State governorship election.

It would be recalled that the collection of PVCs in Osun State commenced at the Registration Area (RA) level from July 22 to 28, 2026.

Haruna said that, owing to complaints about large crowds and difficulties encountered by voters at collection centres, the commission approved an extension of RA-level collection to July 31, 2026, before collection moved to the local government area level, which ran from August 1 to 7, 2026.

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The commission also stated that replacement downloadable PVCs had been made available to voters in Odo-Otin and Ife Central Local Government Areas whose cards were carted away by hoodlums who invaded the two centres, reiterating that the stolen cards cannot be used to vote.

INEC reassured the people of Osun State of its readiness to conduct a free, fair, credible and inclusive governorship election on August 15, 2026.