By Raymond Mordi, Bisi Olaniyi and Precious Igbonwelundu
If the voting pattern in previous elections in Edo is anything to go by, Edo South Senatorial District, which is the Bini-speaking part of the state, may likely determine the outcome of Saturday’s governorship election.
A detailed study by the non-governmental organisation, YIAGA Africa has given an overview of what to expect, going by the patterns in previous elections.
In 2016, the highest proportion of votes came from Edo South; 49 per cent of the votes cast during that election came from the district.
This is compared to Edo North and Edo Central, with 32 per cent and 19 per cent of the votes cast respectively.
Similarly, in 2019 general elections, 47 per cent of the valid votes cast came from Edo South while Edo North and Edo Central recorded 34.4 per cent and 18.2 per cent respectively.
Six local governments — Oredo, Ikpoba/Okha, and Egor in Edo South and Etsako West, Akoko Edo, and Owan East in Edo North — accounted for half of total votes cast (50 per cent).
Five per cent of total votes cast were declared rejected votes in the 2016 governorship election.
In 2016, the turn out was 32 per cent, while the percentage for 2019 general elections was 28 per cent.
Edo North, with 486,969 registered voters, had 199,500 voters or 41 per cent accredited for the election.
This is in contrast to the situation in Edo South which had the highest voting population.
The district had 1.09 million registered voters then, but only 303,148 or 27.8 per cent of them were accredited to vote during the contest.
Read the original article on The Nation
