By Faith Anisiobi, The Sight News
Election observation group, Yiaga Africa, has projected voter turnout in the 2026 Ekiti State Governorship Election to be between 34.0 and 38.1 per cent, based on preliminary findings from its Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology.
The organization disclosed this in a statement jointly signed by the Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, and the Chair of the 2026 Ekiti Election Observation Mission, Dr. Aisha Abdullahi and issued on Saturday in Ado-Ekiti after deploying 250 stationary observers, 22 mobile observers across the state’s 16 local government areas, and 16 observers dedicated to monitoring results collation at the local government level.
According to Yiaga Africa, the deployment enabled it to independently monitor the election process from the opening of polling units, voter accreditation and voting, to vote counting and results collation.
The group said its turnout estimate was derived from reports received from between 246 and 250 sampled polling units, representing about 98 per cent of its observation sample across the state.
“Yiaga Africa’s preliminary estimates reveal that turnout for the 2026 Ekiti governorship election will fall between 34.0 per cent and 38.1 per cent,” the statement noted.
It added that if the official voter turnout announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) falls within the projected range, it would accurately reflect turnout levels recorded at polling units observed by the organization.
While assuring citizens and stakeholders that it had successfully received and processed data from its sampled polling units, Yiaga Africa stated that it would only release its findings on the election results after INEC officially announces the outcome in line with the Electoral Act.
The organization called on INEC to maintain transparency and strictly adhere to established guidelines during the ongoing collation process. It also urged security agencies to remain professional and impartial in safeguarding the collation exercise.
Yiaga Africa further appealed to political parties, stakeholders and residents of Ekiti State to remain peaceful and patient as the electoral body completes the collation and announcement of results.
