Osun Decides: INEC may declare polls inconclusive, PDP margin of lead less than number of cancelled votes

The eagerly anticipated result of Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State could be delayed for much longer as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is said to be contemplating declaring the outcome inconclusive.

Senator Adeleke

Results from all 30 local governments announced by INEC on Sunday morning showed that only 353 votes separate the two main contenders, Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), with the PDP candidate leading.

The results showed that Senator Adeleke polled a total of 254698 votes to stay ahead of Oyetola who secured 254345 votes. While Senator Iyiola Omisore of the SDP is third with 128049 votes.

The extant electoral law provides that when the margin between the winner and  runner up is less than the aggregate of the cancelled votes, the election will proceed to a rerun.

Mr. Oyetola

As it stands, the total number of accredited voters in the cancelled pollen units is more than the PDP’s margin of victory.

However, the opposition party is insisting that 1000 votes was deducted from the total number of votes it got in Ayedaade Local Government.

While at the same time the party’s agent, Mr Dele Adeleke has complained about discrepancies in the alloted to the APC in Olorunda Local Government, saying instead of 14, 254 votes scored by the party, INEC announced 16,254, citing discrepancy of 2000 votes.

Should this be resolved in favour of the PDP, the election would be over.