Bayelsa Election: Five things you need to know as voters decide between Diri, Sylva, others

There are 16 candidates for the Bayelsa governorship election. But the real contest will be between Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which is hoping to maintain control of the oil-rich state, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) aiming to repeat the 2019 feat. Recall that David Lyon of the APC won the 2019 election but was disqualified by the Supreme Court after his deputy was found to have submitted forged credentials to INEC.

Here are five facts to note about the Bayelsa election

The number of voters with PVC that will determine the Bayelsa election are 1,017,613.

Bayelsa has eight local government areas. Yenagoa, the state capital, has the highest number of registered voters with 218,394, followed by Southern Ijaw with 184,401.

There are 2,242 polling units in Bayelsa with Southern Ijaw having the largest. It has 466 polling units, followed by Yenagoa having 427. The two local governments combined have more than 40 per cent of the entire polling units and voters in the state. The winner of the election will be any of the candidates that win the majority votes in these two local governments.

Election observers have predicted that Brass, Nembe, Ogbia, Southern Ijaw and Yenagoa will be likely flashpoints areas which security agencies must pay attention to. The election in these areas will likely suffer low voter turnout.

In the 2019 election, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s household openly supported David Lyon of the APC. Lyon won the election, although the Supreme Court voided truncated his victory. In this election, Jonathan has endorsed Diri. Will it matter? Only time will tell