In 48 hours, residents of Osun
state will head to the polls to elect their next governor. Although 48
political parties fielded candidates, there is no gainsaying that the wrestle
for power is between four candidates. The election gets more interesting given
the fact that the four gladiators and their running mates are from major
election-influencing areas of the state.
In the last governorship election
in Osun, the two leading parties fielded candidates from Osun east, hence
Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives
Congress and Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) divided the
votes from that senatorial district while Aregbesola won overwhelmingly in Osun
central and Osun west senatorial districts.
The votes from those two
districts made him governor. However, in this case, candidates are spread
across all the senatorial districts. APC is fielding Gboyega Oyetola from Osun
central, with Benedict Alabi, his running mate from Osun west; the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) has Ademola Adeleke, its flag bearer from Osun west and
Albert Adeogun, his running mate, from Osun east.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP)
has Iyiola Omisore from Osun east and Lawal Olayemi, his deputy, from Osun west
while the Action Democratic Party (ADP) has Moshood Adeoti from Osun west and
Adeolu Durotoye from Osun central.
Gboyega hails from Osogbo,
Adeleke from Ede, Omisore from Ife and Adeoti from Iwo.
Given the geographical
distribution of the candidates and their popularity in their regions, each
contender will most likely clinch the votes of the LGAs in his district.
However, the big question is,
where will the winner get the significant votes? The constitution mandates that
the overall winner must have not less than one-quarter of the votes cast in the
election; each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the
state.
Chapter 6, section 179,
sub-sections 2 of the 1999 constitution reads: (2)“A candidate for an election
to the office of Governor of a State shall be deemed to have been duly elected
where, there being two or more candidates -(a) he has the highest number of
votes cast at the election; and (b) he has not less than one-quarter of all the
votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in
the State.
“(3) In default of a candidate
duly elected in accordance with subsection (2) of this section there shall be a
second election in accordance with subsection (4) of this section at which the
only candidates shall be – (a) the candidate who secured the highest number of
votes cast at the election; and (b) one among the remaining candidates who
secured a majority of votes in the highest number of local government areas in
the State, so however that where there are more than one candidate with a
majority of votes in the highest number of local government areas, the
candidate among them with the next highest total of votes cast at the election
shall be the second candidate.
This is where the possibility of
a run-off comes in.
WHAT IS A RUN-OFF?
A run-off is an election
conducted when the first election fails to produce a clear winner for the
position of a president or governor. This can happen when the candidate with
the highest votes does not have the required votes spread in the affected
states or local government areas.
If a winner does not emerge on
first ballot, who the two final candidates will be is what will remain unknown
at least for now.
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