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ABUJA. – Nigeria’s political parties must select their candidates for the country’s 2019 presidential election between August 18 and October 7 this year, the electoral commission said on Tuesday in a timetable of the polling process.

Presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on February 16, 2019, marking the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term.

Buhari has not said if he will seek re-election. In addition to outlining the deadline to select candidates, the timetable published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) stated that official campaigns for the presidential parliamentary elections would begin on November 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.

Buhari (75), 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. – Reuters.