INEC schedules Zamfara supplementary polls for Aug 21
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Zamfara has scheduled the conduct of a supplementary election in five polling units of Kaura Namoda South State Assembly constituency to August 21.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Mahmmud Isah, made this known at a stakeholders’ meeting in Gusau on Tuesday.
Isah said the supplementary election would be held in five polling units in Kyambarawa and Sakajiki registration areas, where the August 16 by-election results were cancelled following alleged irregularities.
According to him, the supplementary poll will take place in three polling units in Kyambarawa ward.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner noted that the exercise would take place in Shiyar Magaji (Kofar Hamza) 002, Tukasu (Sabuwar Kasuwa) 009 and Kofar Fafa (Shiyar Fada).
He said that the poll would equally be conducted in the two affected polling units in Sakajiki ward, including Alko (Shiyar Kudu) 002 and Shiyar Nufawa (Kofar MD Nuhu) 007.
iNEC had, on August 16, declared the by-election inconclusive following the cancellation of results from the five polling units.
The INEC Returning Officer, Prof. Lawal Sa’adu of the Federal University, Gusau, said that the commission had registered 5,446 voters in the two areas, with 3,265 PVCs collected.
He said the results announced after the cancellation showed that the All Progressives Congress, APC, scored 7,001 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, polled 5,339 votes.
Sa’adu explained that the margin between the two leading political parties, APC and PDP, was 1,662, which, he said, was less than the 3,265 PVCs collected in the affected polling units.
The electoral umpire cited Sections 24 subsections 2 and 3, Section 47 subsection 3, and Section 51 subsection 2 of the Electoral Act 2022 as reasons for declaring the election inconclusive.
