Only 1.7m people eligible to vote in Edo polls

Records at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), indicate that no fewer than 1.72 million persons are eligible to vote in the Sept. 19, Edo governorship polls while 483,796 eligible voters will not participate.

The consolidated figure of registered voters in the state as contained in an INEC document titled “Delimitation of Edo State”, shows that as at August 2018 stands at 2,210,534 registered voters, while only 1,726,738 collected their PVCs.

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The document shows that Edo has 18 Local Government Areas, with 192 Wards and 2,627 polling units.

A further breakdown of the registered voters figure in the document shows that the male accounts for 1,159,325 (representing 52 per cent), while 1,051,209 are female (or 48 percent).

Similarly, from the total registered voters, the youth (18 – 35 years) account for 50 per cent (1,105,338); Middle Aged (36 – 50 years) account for 29.1 per cent (643,551); and Elderly (51 – 70 years) has 15.99 per cent (353,508).

Eligible voters classified as the Old (70 years and above) account for 4.89 per cent (108,137).

Further distribution of registered voters in the three senatorial districts of the state shows that Edo South has the highest figure of 1,281,414: the North with 564,122: and Central senatorial district has 364,998.

NAN reports that Edo South has seven council areas; the North has six while Central has five Local Government Areas.

According to the number of collected PVCs, Oredo zone has 240,197; Ikpoba-Okha is 214,882; Egor has 158,817; Etsako West has 128,188 and Akoko Edo with 115,343. (NAN)