Vote Buying, Violence Overshadow Ekiti Guber Poll - Yiaga Africa
Yiaga Africa, an election monitoring group, has said the logistical success recorded on Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State, has been overshadowed by "Troubling" levels of vote-buying and scattered outbreaks of violence.
Yiaga Africa, an election monitoring group, has said the logistical success recorded on Saturday’s governorship election inEkiti State,has been overshadowed by “Troubling” levels of vote-buying and scattered outbreaks of violence. Samson Itodo, Executive Director Yiaga Africa, in an assessment of the election, said even though theIndependent National Electoral Commission (INEC)achieved a “Marked and significant improvement” in logistics, his organisation observed “Verified localised violence in known hotspots. ”Itodo named Ikole, Oye, and Ilejemeje Local Government Areas as places where violence was recorded. According to him, more than 68 per cent of polling units opened by 07:30 local time, which he described as “major leap from just 27 percent four years ago,” but noted that by mid-morning, “voting and accreditation were successfully underway in 99 percent of monitored units. ”The executive director however warned that the high voter turnout should not be taken at face value, stating that voter turnout could either be “procured or is actually turnout based on the willful decision of voters. ”Itodo described the alleged the widespread trading of cash for ballots as a “missed opportunity” to clean up the electoral process. He advised that as the process moved to the critical state, which is result-collation phase, “attention is turning to the performance of the eEC8A system, a new electronic results sheet transmitted directly via BVAS devices. ”Itodo urged electoral officials to “uphold the principle of transparency” to ensure that the peaceful start to the election is not derailed during the final count. Please follow and like us: