‘2.6m in Edo, 2.05m in Ondo’ — INEC releases voter register for guber polls

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the final register of voters for the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

Sam Olumekun, national commissioner and chairman, information and voter education committee, said the final registers were approved at the meeting of the commission in Abuja.

He said the register integrated new voters from the recent continuous registration, as well as the figures of successful applicants for transfer from other states to the two states.

According to the statement, Edo has a total of 2,629,025 voters, while Ondo has 2,053,061.

Of the 2,629,025 registered voters in Edo, 1,370,061, representing 52.11 percent are male, while 1,258,964, representing 47.89 percent, are female.

He said youths (18 years to 35 years) accounted for 983,133 (37.4 percent), followed by 914,806 middle aged (36 to 49) persons.

He explained that the two age groups constitute 1,897,939, representing 72.2 percent of the registered voters.

Olumekun also said the occupational distribution of the registered voters showed that 868,764 students constitute the majority of voters (33.05 percent), while 4,199 (0.16 percent) were persons with disability (PWD).

He added that the new register represents 4.9 percent increase over the 2023 general election figure of 2,501,081.

For Ondo, Olumekun said the state now has 2,053,061 registered voters of which 1,034,006 (50.36 percent) are male, while 1,034,964 (47.89 percent) are female.

“Youths (18 – 35 years) account for 726,944 (35.41 percent), followed by 721,982 (35.17 percent) middle aged (36 – 49) persons,” he stated.

“Together, they constitute 1,448,926 (70.57 percent) of registered voters in the state.

“In terms of occupation, 694,938 students constitute the majority of voters (33.85 percent).”

He explained that there are 1,782 (0.09 percent) PWDs.

“The new register represents a 3.0 percent increase over the 2023 general election figure of 1,191,344,” Olumekun added.

He added that the detailed breakdown of the register for each state by LGA, gender, age, occupation and disability had been uploaded to the INEC website and the commission’s social media platforms.

Olumekun said in the next few days, INEC would release the timetable for the collection of permanent voter cards in the two states.