LG Poll: LASIEC says voters turnout, very poor

The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, LASIEC, has said that the recent local government elections in the state recorded poor voter turnout, with 10 per cent of the over 6 million eligible voters in the state taking part.

Speaking at a post-election assessment event, LASIEC Chairman Justice Ayotunde Phillips, rtd made the statement while apologising to journalists for not uploading the election result on the commission’s website. She explained that the site had challenges uploading results.

She lamented that the turnout of voters was abysmal as the total number of accredited voters was 678,324 out of over 6 million registered voters in the state.

She noted the conduct of the election did not go without legal challenges, saying that “12 pre-election cases were filed with four concluded. Appeals have been filed for two cases, and 20 election petitions were filed before the two Election Tribunals.

“Out of the 20 cases filed, four filed by the Young Progressives Congress (YPP) were withdrawn and were accordingly dismissed by the tribunal. Five of the cases were struck out for want of diligent prosecution, while 11 petitions were tried and decided on their merit. 

“Six appeals were filed before the Election Petitions Appeal Tribunal where five of the appeals were dismissed. 

The decision of the lower tribunal in one of the petitions was affirmed, and the commission immediately complied with the judgement of the Appeal Tribunal.”

Suzan O/NAN