Ondo State governorship election
Nigerians in Ondo state will today cast their ballots for state governor.
This year’s election has three main contestants: incumbent Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of the ruling centre-left All Progressive’s Congress party (APC), current Deputy Governor Agboola Ajayi of the independent Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and Eyitayo Jegede of the centre-right People’s Democratic Party (PDP). After national success in the 2015 and 2019 presidential elections, the ruling centre-left APC government has been losing traction in the statehouse, and the count now split at 19 APC and 17 PDP. Today’s election comes weeks after the PDP retook Edo state and will dictate the leanings of the South West geopolitical region’s six states—the PDP only controls one state, Oyo.
In the short term, there are concerns that violence could erupt over unfair elections. The PDP believes the Ondo state election committee is unfairly influenced by the APC, and violent protest is not uncommon. In the medium to long term, the election results will set the tone for the APC and PDP face-off in the 2023 presidential elections for control over Africa’s largest economy.
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