With the declaration of the Osun State Governorship election as inconclusive by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has urged electorate and all political camps to maintain calm.
The CDD Director, Idayat Hassan, in a statement Sunday commended the voting public in Osun State for their peaceful conduct before and during the election.
“We call on the Osun electorate to continue with its calm and orderly disposition, as INEC works to ensure the electoral process is concluded in line with extant laws and guidelines governing the process. CDD, therefore, calls on all partisan camps to refrain from any form of rhetoric, claims or counter-claims capable of disturbing the peace or undermining public order,” Hassan said.
She said the vote difference of 353 between the major contenders was “lower than the total number of registered voters in Polling Units where the election was cancelled due to over voting, ballot snatching and the disappearance of a Presiding Officer.
“According to INEC, these infractions happened in Orolu, Ife South, Ife North and Osogbo Local Government Areas (LGAs), leading to the cancellation of votes in five polling units with3, 498 registered voters.
“CDD notes that Section 44(n) of the INEC guideline empowers the Commission to declare an election inconclusive where the margin of votes between the two leading candidates is not more than the total number of registered voters of the polling unit(s) where elections are cancelled or not held,” she said.
She also urged INEC and the security agencies to investigate and prosecute those responsible for acts, which undermined the electoral process in the affected areas as part of measures to enhance the credibility of the process and boost public confidence in the commission not just in the Osun governorship supplementary elections but the forthcoming 2019 General Elections.
