Yiaga Africa, a non-profit civic organization promoting democratic governance, has raised concerns over alleged inconsistencies in electoral materials deployed for the Ekiti State governorship election.
The election observer group made the observation in its preliminary report released on Saturday and obtained by THE WHISTLER.
The report was signed by Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, Chair of the 2026 Ekiti Election Observation Mission, and Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa.
The election monitoring group said that as of 8:30am, 96 per cent of its observers deployed across 250 randomly sampled polling units were present to monitor proceedings.
The observer group warned that the discrepancies could affect the clarity and integrity of voting and collation processes.
However, it noted significant variations in key election documents being used at polling units.
Yiaga Africa stated that its findings showed a mismatch between the Form EC8A result sheets, ballot papers, and the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) final list of candidates. According to the group, the EC8A result sheets provide spaces for 15 political parties, while ballot papers in circulation contain 19 parties. In contrast, INEC’s final list of candidates – updated and published on its website as of June 18, 2026 – indicates that 14 political parties fielded candidates in the election.
The organisation acknowledged that the electoral process was affected by earlier developments, including INEC’s initial publication of 12 candidates in January 2026, followed by court rulings – particularly on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidacy – and subsequent administrative adjustments that altered party participation.
Yiaga Africa, however, noted that these changes do not appear to have been consistently reflected across all election materials, and that voter awareness of the updates may also have been limited.
According to the group, the inconsistencies could create practical challenges during voting, result recording, and collation.
It explained that where result sheets include parties not present on the ballot papers, presiding officers may be compelled to record zero votes for such parties. Conversely, where voters cast ballots for parties not reflected on the result sheets, it could lead to uncertainty in documentation, reconciliation, and final collation of results.
It called on INEC to urgently clarify the final list of participating political parties and candidates, and to explain the discrepancies between ballot papers, result sheets, and earlier official announcements.
It also urged the commission to issue clear written guidelines to presiding and collation officers on how to correctly complete result sheets in line with electoral laws and relevant court judgments, particularly in handling cases where party listings differ across documents.
(The Whistler)
