Results from some of the polling units in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa have been announced by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Development Diaries reports that voting has closed in most of the polling units in the three states, where 2023 governorship elections were held on Saturday, 11 Neovember, 2023.

Approximately 5.4 million registered voters were expected to cast their ballots in all three states, with 16 candidates in Bayelsa, 17 in Imo, and 18 in Kogi running for the highest office in the states.

How is the winner of governorship election determined?

By virtue of Nigeria’s 1999 constitution, a candidate for governor must receive not just the most votes overall but also at least 25 percent of the total votes cast in two-thirds of the state’s local government districts in order to be declared the winner of the election.

Section 41 (b) of INEC’s guidelines reads,  ‘The state collation or returning officers for the governorship election shall then complete Form EC 8E, sign, date, stamp and declare the result of the governorship election and return the
candidate who:

‘(i) has the majority of votes cast at the election; (ii) has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the LGAs in the state’.

It further explains that where no candidate meets the requirements of the majority of votes cast and the electoral two-thirds, a run-off election will be organised by the commission within 21 days.

Photo source: GPA Photo Archive