Election observer group, Yiaga Africa, has raised concerns over what it described as significant inconsistencies in electoral materials used for the Ekiti State governorship election, warning that the discrepancies could undermine the credibility of voting, result recording and collation processes.
The organisation disclosed this in its preliminary observation report released on Saturday and jointly signed by the Chair of the 2026 Ekiti Election Observation Mission, Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, and Yiaga Africa’s Executive Director, Samson Itodo.
According to the report, 96 per cent of Yiaga Africa’s observers deployed to 250 randomly selected polling units were already on ground monitoring the exercise as of 8:30 a.m.
The group said its findings revealed notable discrepancies between ballot papers, result sheets and the final list of candidates published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Yiaga Africa noted that while the Form EC8A result sheets provided spaces for 15 political parties, ballot papers used for the election contained 19 parties. However, INEC’s final list of candidates, updated and published on June 18, 2026, showed that only 14 political parties fielded candidates for the election.
The organisation attributed part of the confusion to developments that preceded the poll, including INEC’s initial publication of 12 candidates in January 2026, subsequent court judgments—particularly those affecting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)—and administrative adjustments that altered the final list of participating parties.
“The changes do not appear to have been consistently reflected across all election materials, and voter awareness of the updates may also have been limited,” the report stated.
Yiaga Africa warned that the inconsistencies could create operational challenges during voting and result collation.
According to the group, “where result sheets include parties not present on the ballot papers, presiding officers may be compelled to record zero votes for such parties.”
It added that, “where voters cast ballots for parties not reflected on the result sheets, it could lead to uncertainty in documentation, reconciliation and final collation of results.”
The observer group urged INEC to immediately clarify the final list of participating political parties and candidates and provide explanations for the discrepancies observed between ballot papers, result sheets and previous official announcements.
Yiaga Africa further called on the electoral commission to issue clear written directives to presiding officers and collation officials on how to properly complete result sheets in accordance with the Electoral Act and relevant court decisions.
The organisation stressed that such guidance would help prevent confusion and ensure the integrity of the electoral process, particularly in situations where party listings differ across official election documents.
