IPAC decries low voter turnout during presidential polls

The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) on Saturday decried the poor turnout of voters in the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections in Cross River.

During a press conference in Calabar, Anthony Attah, chairman of IPAC in Cross River, said out of over 1.7 million registered voters, only 444,880 were accredited to vote, representing less than 30 per cent of voters in the state.

Mr Attah disclosed that in the previous election, the state had up to 700,000 accredited voters, adding that the number should not be dwindling but increasing.

“We thank residents of Cross River for coming out for the election, but we are dissatisfied with the number; we are expecting to see at least 1.2 million voters in the governorship election, which is critical for the state,” he said.

Speaking further, the chairman congratulated most of the winners in the presidential and NASS elections of February 25.

He stated that all political parties in the state widely accepted the process and outcome of their victories.

According to him, the victories of Sen. Jarigbe Jarigbe of the PDP, and Senator-elect Asuquo Ekpenyong of APC, representing the northern and southern senatorial districts, respectively, were accepted.

He, however, said the central senatorial district election result remained questionable because several political parties were aggrieved with the process and had resolved to meet the purported winner, Eteng Williams, in court.

Mr Attah also congratulated all the winners of the House of Representatives seats in the state except the winner of the Etung/Obubura Federal Constituency.

He said the election winner, Mike Etaba’s victory, had been rejected by several political parties contesting it in court.

While congratulating the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for organising a relatively peaceful and transparent election, he urged them to review the list of their ad hoc staff.

“One of the things we are dissatisfied about in the last election was the few appointees of the state government that smuggled themselves in as INEC ad hoc staff.

“At this point, we ask that the list of the ad hoc staff be reviewed and anyone who ought not to be there be removed to prevent any infractions.

“We also call on the military formations in Cross River to help us in the coming election by having a massive presence in the three senatorial districts to prevent electoral violence,” he said.

(NAN)