We Concluded 139 Elections On First Ballot, Out Of 163 – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday declared that sofar, it has concluded 139 elections out of a total of 163 elections.It however added that while 118 of the concluded elections were on first ballot, 21 were concluded after supplementary polls.

The commission stated this while reacting to remarks by outgoing President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Augustine Alegeh, who lambasted INEC for conducting 136 inconclusive elections in one year under the watch of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

Alegeh was quoted as making the remark at the 56th Annual General Conference of the NBA in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on August 21.

But a statement signed by the Acting Secretaryto INEC, Mr Musa Adamu, in Abuja yesterday described the assertion by the former NBA president as “misplaced and undeserved’’.

According to INEC, the commission has thus far concluded 139 elections (118 at first ballot and 21 after supplementary) out of a total of 163 scheduled elections and that 22 elections were suspended due to violence while 2 elections are sub judice.

‘’This shows that 72.3 per cent of the elections were concluded at first ballot, 21.8 per cent of inconclusive elections were concluded after supplementary, 1.2 per cent pending, while 13.4 per cent were suspended in Rivers.

’’In a further breakdown the commission said 163 elections comprising 80 court-ordered elections in the aftermath of 2015 general elections, 70 end-of-tenure elections, 13 by-elections occasioned by death or resignation have so far been conducted by the new commission.

“It is clear from the foregoing that Mr Alegeh‘s pronouncement was ill-informed and his stern rebuke to the commission was misplaced and undeserved,’’ the statement said.

It said that the commission had maintained that inconclusive elections were caused by violence and over-voting, and that the notion of inconclusive election was not strange to the laws.

According to it, the conditions for declaring an election inconclusive are stated in Sections 26 and 53 of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended