The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State as winner of the March 9, 2019 governorship election in the state.
In announcing the election results on Sunday, March 10, 2019, INEC Returning Officer, Professor Joseph Ahaneku, said Ugwuanyi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 449,935 votes to beat his closed rival Senator Ayogu Eze of All Progressives Congress (APC) who garnered 10,423 votes.
With this result, Governor Ugwuanyi has been re-elected for a second term in office.
Ugwuanyi won in all the 17 local government areas of the state, a result that was no surprise to political observers in the state, as PDP has remained the dominant party in the state since 2009 when democracy was restored in the country.
The beaten candidate of the APC, Senator Ayogu Eze, had reportedly boycotted the governorship election just hours to the election, on the grouse that his name was not included in the ballot by the INEC.
Eze was initially disqualified from contesting the election by a Federal High Court in Abuja after one Barrister Ogara had challenged his candidacy in court. Ogara had claimed that he was the validly won the APC primaries in the state and should be so declared.
It was not until Thursday, March 7, 2019 that Ayogu reclaimed his APC flag-bearer mandate at the Appeal Court in Abuja.
Senator Eze has not yet reacted to the election result announced by INEC and it is not clear if he would challenge the result in court.