An official says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the final voter register for the Edo and Ondo governorship polls.
The national commissioner and information and voter education committee chairman, Sam Olumekun, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday.
According to the statement, Edo has 2,629,025, while Ondo has 2,053,061.
Olumekun stated that the final registers were approved at the meeting of the commission in Abuja.
He added that the register integrated new voters from the recent Continuous Voter Registration and the figures of successful applicants for transfer from other states to the two states.
According to him, of the 2,629,025 registered voters in Edo, 1,370,061, representing 52.11 per cent, were male, while 1,258,964, representing 47.89 per cent, were female.
He also stated that the youths (18 years to 35 years) accounted for 983,133 (37.4 per cent), followed by 914,806 middle-aged (36 to 49) persons. He explained that the two age groups constitute 1,897,939, representing 72.2 per cent of the registered voters.
Mr Olumekun also said that the occupational distribution of the registered voters showed that 868,764 students constitute the majority of voters (33.05 per cent), while 4,199 (0.16 per cent) were persons with disability (PWD).
According to him, the new register represents a 4.9 per cent increase over the 2023 General Elections figure of 2,501,081.
For Ondo, Mr Olumekun said the state had 2,053,061 registered voters, of which 1,034,006 (50.36 per cent) were male, while 1,034,964 (47.89 per cent) were female.
“Youths (18 – 35 years) account for 726,944 (35.41 per cent), followed by 721,982 (35.17 per cent) middle-aged (36 – 49) persons. Together, they constitute 1,448,926 (70.57 per cent) of registered voters in the state. In terms of occupation, 694,938 students constitute the majority of voters (33.85 per cent),” he stated.
He explained that there are 1,782 (0.09 per cent) PWDs.
“The new register represents a 3.0 per cent increase over the 2023 General Elections figure of 1,191,344,” Mr Olumekun stated.
He added that the detailed breakdown of the register for each state by LGAs, gender, age, occupation and disability had been uploaded to the INEC website and social media platforms for public information.
Mr Olumekun further stated that INEC will release the timetable for collecting permanent voter cards in the two states in the next few days.
(NAN)