As results from Saturday’s Governorship and House of Assembly elections trickle in, voters in Kwara State await who would emerge as winners and losers.
The process has been seamless and peaceful across the state.
The incumbent Governor, Abdulrahman AbdulRazah of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Shuaib Yaman Abdullahi of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Hakeem Lawal of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and others scramble for the 1,695,927 registered votes in the state.
Hon. Lukman Ahmed, the Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation Centre to Governor AbdulRazaq expressed optimism that his party, APC, will win the elections.
He told Voice of Nigeria that the tremendous work done by the incumbent governor will give the Party victory.
“APC will be declared the winners in the governorship and House of Assembly elections in the State. You can see the turnout of people, massive. The people wanted to return the governor back to the office, because he has done a good job in the past years,” he said.
Hon. Ahmed commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), for a well-organized exercise compared to the Presidential and National Assembly elections which held on February 25, 2023.
“I must commend INEC for a good job. BVAS are working fine, no hitches, the exercise went on well when compared to the last elections, kudos to INEC”
Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Hakeem Lawal, blamed the low voter turnout in the elections on transportation issues and security arrangements.
“As you can see there is voter apathy. People did not come out enough. I don’t know why, possibly transport issues, may be delayed in the process. The only thing I observed while coming is that security outfits blocked many routes, affecting people’s movement. It is indirectly disenfranchising them, people should be able to move, to go and vote”.
Party Agents flooded the collation centers in all the Local Government Areas, submitting their results to INEC officials.
INEC has commenced the sorting and counting of results of the Seventeen Political Parties that participated.
The governor of Kwara State is elected using a modified two-round system. To be elected in the first round, a candidate must receive the plurality of the vote and over 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of state local government areas.
If no candidate passes this threshold, a second round will be held between the top candidate and the next candidate to have received a plurality of votes in the highest number of local government areas.
