Nigeria’s political parties will select their candidates for the country’s 2019 presidential election between Aug. 18 and Oct. 7 this year, according to a timetable of the polling process released by the electoral commission.
Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held on Feb. 16, 2019.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) also stated that official campaigns for the presidential and parliamentary elections would begin on Nov. 18.
“The Commission wishes to assure Nigerians that we are determined to strictly adhere to the timetable and schedule of activities,” INEC said in a statement.
The election will mark the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term. Buhari has not said if he will seek re-election.
Buhari took office in May 2015 after winning elections that year following a campaign in which he vowed to crack down on endemic corruption and crush the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in the northeast.
A former vice president and key Buhari ally, Atiku Abubakar, quit the ruling All Progressives Congress and said he was prepared to run in 2019.
He joined the opposition People’s Democratic Party last month.
