It’s just few Hours after the announcement of the Official Results of the Ekiti Governorship Elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
The Cameras are set, and the world is eager to know the Outcome of YIAGA AFRICA’s WatchingTheVote deployment of 500 Polling Unit Observers, 25 roving observers and 16 Collation observers.
At the Press Conference addressed by YIAGA AFRICA’s Executive Director Samson Itodo, Board members Prof Nnamdi Aduba, Ezenwa Nwagwu, Watching The Vote Project Director, Cynthia Mbamalu and Pre-Election Manager Safiya Bichi, WTV data revealed information on the conduct of the the election day process and procedure. According to Samson Itodo, WTV findings shows that the All Progressives Congress (APC) should receive between 49.1 per cent and 54.7 per cent the votes cast. For the Peoples Democratic Party, he said that the party should receive between 43.1percent and 48.7 percent of the votes and that no other party should receive more than one percent of the votes share.
Itodo said that the INEC official result for the election was consistent with YIAGA Africa WTV estimate.
He said: “In view of the consistency between INEC official result and our WTV estimates, we confirm that the official results reflect the ballot cast at the polling unit.
“Had the official results been changed at the ward, LGA or state collation centres, the official results would not have fallen within the YIAGA Africa WTV estimated ranges.
“The official results fall within the estimated ranges and therefore, governorship contestants, parties and voters should have confidence that INEC’s official result for the Ekiti 2018 gubernatorial election reflect the ballots cast at polling units.
“To this end, we urge all stakeholders to accept the outcome of the election or seek redress, using legal means of electoral dispute resolution.’’
Itodo said that to buttress the consistency more, it was important to highlight that the counting process at polling units was transparent and included representatives from the two political parties that received the most votes.
He said that in 85 per cent of polling units, counting was concluded at 4 p.m., adding that incidents of intimidation, harassment or violence were reported in five per cent of polling units during counting.
According to him, on the average, three party agents were present during the counting process.
Itodo said that INEC’s official results for turnout and rejected ballots were also consistent with YIAGA Africa WTV estimates.
