Yiaga Africa has raised concerns over inconsistencies between ballot papers, result sheets, and the candidate list released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the ongoing Ekiti State governorship election.
The election observer group, in its preliminary statement on Saturday, said its findings showed discrepancies in the election materials deployed across polling units.
Yiaga Africa said as of 8:30am, 96% of its observers from 250 randomly selected polling units had arrived at their assigned locations to monitor the electoral process.
According to the group, the Form EC8A polling unit result sheets provided spaces for 15 political parties, while the ballot papers in circulation contained 19 parties.
Meanwhile, INEC’s final list of candidates, updated and published on its website on June 18, 2026, reflected 14 political parties that fielded candidates for the election.
Yiaga stated that the inconsistencies may have followed changes in party and candidate participation after court judgments and administrative adjustments were made after INEC released its initial list of 12 candidates in January 2026.
The group said some of these changes appeared to not have been fully reflected across all election materials, noting that voters may not have received enough information about the updates.
Yiaga warned that the discrepancies could create confusion during voting, result recording, and collation as result sheets also contain political parties not listed on the ballot papers, presiding officers may record zero votes for parties voters did not see.
The group has therefore urged INEC to urgently clarify the final list of political parties and candidates and explain the differences between the ballot papers, result sheets.
It also called on the electoral body to issue clear instructions to presiding and collation officers on how to handle the discrepancies in line with the law and relevant court judgments.