General

INEC explains reasons for inconclusive elections in six states

The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) declared results six (6) states’s governorship elections inconclusive during the Saturday 9^th March, 2019 governorship election held throughout the country. The states affected by these inconclusive governorship elections are Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Plateau, Sokoto and Kano states. INEC had scheduled a supplementary election for these states for 23^rd March, 2019.

The decision of INEC to declare the results of these states inconclusive had been widely condemned by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after they had recorded higher number of votes in five (5) out of the six (6) states affected. The PDP were reported to have scored higher votes in Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Sokoto and Kano states while the All Progressive Congress (APC) scored the highest votes in Plateau state.

INEC has explained that the result in these six states were inconclusive in line with the country’s law which stated that no winner shall be declared if the margin of victory between two parties with the highest numbers of votes is less than the number of cancelled votes. This decision is in compliance with the Margin of Lead Principle derived from Sections 26 and 53 of the Electoral Act (as amended) and paragraph 41(e) and 43(b) of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines.

INEC also highlighted that over-voting, violence and hijacking of electoral materials as some of the numerous reasons elections were problematic in many places in Nigeria and thereby raising a chance of supplementary election should the number of cancelled votes exceeds margin of win upon final collation. Cancelled votes usually increase when registered voters are unable to vote for reasons such as violence, or due to absence of materials and officials. It can also arise if the numbers of ballots are higher than the number of accredited voters.

INEC also clarified that cancelled votes are different from rejected votes which basically mean invalid votes. For instance, a vote may be invalid or rejected because the voter thumb-printed across columns for different parties or picked more than one party.

Below is the breakdown of results in the six states where elections were declared inconclusive pending the outcome of the re-run elections to be held on 23^rd March, 2019

Sokoto State

Aminu Tambuwal (PDP) – 489,558

Aliyu Ahmed (APC) – 486,145

Margin – 3,413

Cancelled votes – 75,403

Plateau State

Simon Lalong (APC) – 583,255

Jerry Useni (PDP) – 538,326

Margin – 44,929

Cancelled votes – 49,377

Kano State

Abba Yusuf (PDP) – 1,014,474