Former Deputy Governor Advocates Orientation of Electorate

A former Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Rauf Olaniyan, has called for orientation and re-orientation of the electorate.

He also called for a reduction of political parties to a maximum of three so as to limit wasted votes, encourage wider participation and to make more votes count.

Olaniyan said this, while speaking with reporters, shortly after voting at the Ward 9, Unit 6 AUD Primary School Modeke, Igboho, Oorelope Local Government Area of Oyo State.

Olaniyan noted that if the options of political parties were reduced to three or four, it would greatly help tackle the situation where numerous parties score scanty votes due to lack of popularity and inability to compete with major parties.

He said: “We have 18 parties on the ballot paper, meaning that 18 people showed interest but at the end, while counting, you will see a political party getting 600,000 votes, another one 300,000 votes, while you see another get 120, another get 19 or 20, even some get just one vote.”

Asked if two or three parties would not limit the choices of the people as multiple choices adds beauty to democracy, Olaniyan stated: “That’s not beauty, it is only when you have one party that you have no choice. The reason June 12 election was accounted as the freest and fairest was because we had just two parties.” 

He opined that if there were just three political parties, the level of participation would be higher and more votes would count, either for the majority or the minority, noting that the government should legislate on how many political parties it could accommodate.