The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River State has taken an expected victory from the local government elections conducted last Saturday in the state.
As 6.pm on Sunday, the State Independent Electoral Commission had announced results from 10 out of 18 local government areas in the state.
All ten local government chairmanship seats and all the available councillorship seats were all cleared by the PDP.
The leading opposition political party in the state, the All Progressive Congress (APC) was bedeviled by a factional crisis.
Among the 10 local government areas whose results for the chairmanship and councillorship seats were announced were: Akamkpa, Akpabuyo, Bakassi, Calabar Municipality, Calabar South, Etung, Ikom, Obubra, Odukpani, and Yakurr local government areas.
The turnout during the polls was low in some areas and fair in others in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But chairman of the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission, Mike Ushie explained that the commission adopted and strictly followed the Covid-19 election protocols recently released by INEC for elections in Edo and Ondo.
According to him, there was adherence to physical distancing, provision of hand sanitizers and water for handwashing with soap.
Ushie noted that he was happy at the crisis-free local government election particularly after a number of postponements over five years.
He revealed that five political parties were participating in the polls, including the governing People’s Democratic Party and a factional group of the leading All Progressive Congress in the state.