By Josephine Oguntoyinbo

An election monitoring team, YIAGA Africa, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure strict adherence to the guidelines for results collation and to allow party agents, accredited media, and election observers access to the collation centres.

The organisation issued this charge in its mid-day press statement in Akure.

YIAGA Africa advised security agencies to remain professional and non-partisan throughout the voting and results collation process, and to impose appropriate sanctions for any violations of the Electoral Act.

It called on all electoral stakeholders, including citizens, INEC, political parties, and security agencies, to remain committed to the peaceful completion of the election.

YIAGA Africa commended the Department of State Services (DSS) for arresting mercenaries deployed by political parties to buy votes, urging security and anti-graft agencies to ensure the diligent prosecution of individuals caught in the act.

The organisation pledged to provide timely, statistically representative information about the conduct of the election. It appealed to INEC, security agencies, political party candidates and their supporters, and all residents of Ondo State to work together to ensure a credible and peaceful election.

According to the statement:

“YIAGA Africa Watching The Vote is deploying the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology to observe the Ondo State governorship election. This involves the deployment of 300 stationary observers to a representative, randomly selected sample of 300 polling units across the 18 LGAs, and 24 roving observers.

“Using the PRVT, YIAGA Africa will independently verify whether the official governorship election results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reflect the votes cast at the polling units.

“At the end of polls, YIAGA Africa observers will deploy to all LGAs and the State’s results collation centres to observe and report on the results collation process. This deployment will enable YIAGA Africa to provide the most timely and accurate information on the governorship elections in the state.

“In its pre-election statement, YIAGA Africa reported that the lead-up to the elections was relatively peaceful. On election day, the process began calmly and in an orderly manner, demonstrating citizens’ interest in participating peacefully.

“Citizens arrived early at their assigned polling units to cast their votes in the gubernatorial election. Additionally, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and transport union groups successfully deployed election officials and materials across the state.

“By 7:30 am, election officials had arrived at 71% of the polling units. By 9:30 am, accreditation and voting were underway in 91% of the observed polling units.”