The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has made significant progress in the electronic transmission of results from Saturday’s Ekiti State governorship election, with more than four-fifths of polling unit returns already available on its online Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
As of 6:41 p.m., election data on the platform showed that 2,048 polling unit results had been uploaded out of the state’s 2,445 polling units, representing approximately 83.7 per cent of the total expected uploads.
The development marked a rapid increase in result transmission activity, coming just minutes after the commission had recorded a substantially lower upload rate earlier in the evening. At 6:12 p.m., only 35.5 per cent of the results had appeared on the portal.
The steady flow of uploads comes as collation exercises continue across local government areas, with election officials working to reconcile and aggregate results from polling units across the state.
The off-cycle governorship election is being keenly watched as incumbent Governor Biodun Oyebanji seeks a fresh mandate under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the expiration of his first term in October.
A total of 14 candidates are participating in the contest, reflecting a broad field of political parties vying for control of the Ekiti Government House.
Among the major contenders challenging the incumbent are Oluwole Oluyede of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Oluwadare Bejide of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Oyebanji Olajuyin of the Labour Party (LP), and Blessing Abegunde of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
Other candidates in the race include Samuel Akande of the African Action Congress (AAC), Ayodeji Ojo of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Opeyemi Felegan of Accord, Joseph Anifowose of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Bidemi Awogbemi of the Action Peoples Party (APP), Olaniyi Ayodele of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), and Victor Adetunji of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
With thousands of polling unit results already accessible to the public through the IReV portal, attention is gradually shifting to the official collation centres where final vote totals will be computed and the eventual winner determined.
INEC officials are expected to continue uploading outstanding results while collation progresses across the state.
(Ripples)