BEVERLY HILLS, March 24, (THEWILL) – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State winner of the state’s governorship election, winning reelection for another four years.
In Saturday’s supplementary election, Lalong, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 12, 327 new votes.
His closest challenger, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Jeremiah Useni, trailed with 8,487 votes, leaving a margin of 3,840.
The supplementary election took place in nine local government areas of the state: Barkin Ladi, Bassa, Bokkos, Jos North, Kanam, Langtang South, Mangu, Pankshin and Shendam.
At the end of final collation and announcement of results by the Electoral Commission, Lalong polled a total 595,582 votes to defeat who polled 546,813 votes.
The total valid votes stood at 1,159,954 while rejected votes numbered up to 16,188. The total votes cast was 1,176,142.
THEWILL recalls that in the March 9 election, Lalong had polled 583,255 votes while Useni had 538,326, with 49,377 votes cancelled and a victory margin 44, 929, prompting the electoral umpire to declare the election inconclusive.
