EARLY morning downpours delayed voting in some parts of Edo Central Senatorial District as voters waited in long queues for the arrival of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who conducted the state governorship poll on Saturday, September 21.
The Esan District, consisting of five Local Government Areas (Esan South-East, Igueben, Esan North-East, Esan West, and Esan Central), is key to the election because two major candidates, Asue Ighodalo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Monday Okpepholo of the All Progressive Congress (APC) are from there.
As of 7:50 am, polling units faced delays due to the late arrival of election materials and officials, while rain kept many voters indoors.
The ICIR reporter on the ground noticed some voters at Ivue primary school, Polling unit 7, Ward 2, Uromi waiting to vote in the rain with their umbrellas.
The ICIR reported on the eve of the election that despite a tense atmosphere that greeted the political process in the state, there was palpable calm across the state.
Seventeen political parties are competing for votes in the poll, with three candidates – PDP’s Asue Ighodalo, APC’s Monday Okpebholo, and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) – leading the race.
There are approximately 2.63 million registered voters but only 2.25 million of these have collected their permanent voter’s card (PVC), making them eligible to vote, according to data from the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC).
By this, the election in Edo would be determined by only 85.57 per cent of registered voters casting their ballot in 4,519 polling units across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state.
As of the time of filing this report, the rains were still pounding many parts of the state.
A reporter with the ICIR
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