Voters in Edo State will go to the polls today to elect a new governor.
A total of 17 candidates, comprising 16 males and a female, will be on the ballot in the off-cycle governorship, which observers have described as “high stakes”.
However, it is shaping up to be a three-horse race between Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP), Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Data on INEC’s portal shows that there are 2,629,025 registered voters in the state, but only 2,249,780 voters have collected their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC).
In terms of the total number of PVCs collected, Edo South Senatorial District, which has seven local government areas, leads with 1,254,424 PVCs collected, representing 55.76 per cent of the total. Edo North Senatorial District comes a distant second with 629,397 PVCs collected, representing 27.98 per cent, while Edo Central Senatorial District has a total of 365,959 PVCs collected, accounting for 16.27 per cent.
Edo State is divided into 18 local government areas, 192 electoral wards and 4,519 polling units.
Barring any logistical difficulties, the voting process will commence at 8:30 a.m. and end at 2:30 p.m. However, according to INEC guidelines for the election, voters who are already at their polling units before 2:30 p.m. will be allowed to vote.
The security agencies have massively deployed their personnel for the election with the police alone accounting for 35,000. The electoral body, INEC, accredited 134 domestic and foreign observers to observe the process.
It also cleared hundreds of journalists to ensure its coverage.
Whoever emerges as the winner of today’s election will be inaugurated in November, when the incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki’s second and final four-year mandate will lapse.
PREMIUM TIMES will be in Edo to bring you live updates of the election.
Stay on this page for the updates.
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