2026 Ekiti Guber Poll: Yiaga Africa Raises Concerns Over INEC Material Inconsistencies

Yiaga Africa has raised concerns over inconsistencies in election materials deployed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the Ekiti State governorship election, warning that the discrepancies could create confusion during voting and collation.

The election observation group made the remarks in its preliminary statement on Saturday, noting that 96 per cent of its observers deployed across 250 randomly selected polling units were present at their locations as of 8:30 a.m. to monitor the exercise.

According to Yiaga Africa, its preliminary findings revealed significant mismatches between ballot papers, result sheets, and INEC’s official list of candidates.

The organisation said while Form EC8A polling unit result sheets contain spaces for 15 political parties, the ballot papers currently in circulation include 19 parties.

It further noted that INEC’s final list of candidates published on its website as of June 18, 2026, shows that only 14 political parties fielded candidates in the election.

Yiaga Africa acknowledged that the discrepancies may be linked to post-primary legal and administrative developments, including court rulings that affected party nominations, particularly the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as well as subsequent adjustments by the electoral commission.

It, however, expressed concern that these changes may not have been uniformly reflected across all election materials and may not have been sufficiently communicated to the public ahead of the poll.

“These inconsistencies might create confusion during voting and collation. Where result sheets include parties that are not on the ballot, presiding officers may record zero votes for parties that voters did not see. Conversely, where voters cast ballots for parties not reflected on the result sheet, such actions could create uncertainty in recording, reconciliation, and collation,” the group warned.

Yiaga Africa therefore called on INEC to urgently clarify the final list of political parties and candidates contesting the election and explain the discrepancies between ballot papers, result sheets and earlier announcements.

It also urged the commission to issue clear written guidelines to presiding and collation officers on how to properly complete result sheets in line with the Electoral Act and relevant court judgments.

The organisation said such guidance should address how to handle situations where parties appear on result sheets but not on ballot papers, and vice versa, to ensure consistency and credibility in the collation process.