LESS than 40 per cent of the more than one million registered voters participated in Saturday’s governorship election for Ekiti State, according to YIAGA Africa, a leading Nigerian civic society and election observer group.
The governorship election, conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and observed by local and international observers as well as the media, had 1,059,360 registered voters.
Briefing journalists on the outcome of the exercise, which saw the re-election of incumbent Governor Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Chairperson, YIAGA Africa Observation Group for the Ekiti Election, Aisha Abdullahi, said estimated voter turnout for the election was between 34.1 per cent and 38.2 per cent adding that the data tallied with INEC’s official turnout figure estimated at 38.7 per cent.
She said the organisation deployed 250 observers, 22 mobile observers and 16 results collation observers across the state’s 16 Local Government Areas (LGAS).
Reacting to the deployment of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) for the election, Yiaga Africa said the devices functioned properly in 87 per cent of polling units and malfunctioned in 13 per cent of the polling units, but were later fixed. Abdullahi said in 10 per cent of polling units, some voters were refused accreditation because the BVAS did not verify their PVC’s or authenticate their fingerprints or facial biometrics.
“In 14 per cent of polling units, voters who presented what looked like a printed slip that contained their details were accredited by the BVAS and allowed to vote without a PVC. At 17 per cent of polling units, it was possible to see how a voter’s ballot paper was marked when it was put in the ballot box at some point throughout the day. Voters crowded the polling officials in 11 per cent of polling units,” the NGO noted.
The organisation reported its findings on the vote counting, noting that at 98 percent of polling units, officials displayed each marked ballot paper to everyone present. “At 89 per cent of polling units, the official results were posted for the public to see. At 88 per cent of polling units, presiding officers used the BVAS to scan/take a snapshot of the Result Form EC8A; A and transmit to the IREV.”
She further said 90 per cent of polling units transferred the results from validated Form EC8A to the e-EC8A on the BVAS.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ mfatunmole@icirnigeria.org