BY ADANNA OBI
There will be ‘bandwagon voting’ in the South East region in the 2023 general elections.
Advocates For Societal Rebirth and Good Governance, ASRG, a socio political group based in Enugu, said based on a recent survey across the five states in the South East, there is clear revelation that one of three leading political parties in the country, will garner more than 80 % votes for all elective positions during the 2023 general elections.
In statement sent to INNONEWS and signed by its co- ordinator, Ferdinard Ogwo, the ASRP said its study team, sampled opinions and views in urban, semi urban, rural areas/communities and hamlets in the region and “its findings reveal that there will be bandwagon voting in the South East”
Though the group refused to disclose the identity of the political party which will benefit from such bandwagon voting in the South East, it said its survey clearly revealed “a ferocious and flaming desire by voters with Permanent Voters Card, PVCs, in the region to vote for a leading presidential candidate from the South East and extend such votes to all candidates on the political party of the said presidential candidate”
“Despite extensive campaigns, awareness for voters in the South East to give preference to candidates, who have pedigree and have shown capacity to live up to the expectations of the people irrespective of the political party the candidate(s) belong to, it remains uncertain how voters, especially those in the rural communities in the South East will be able to disentangle or differentiate the candidates during the elections.
“The difficulty is rooted on the grounds that the outcome of the presidential election will rub off on the National Assembly elections in the South East because they will be held on the same day. The impatience of voters will be a major hindrance for them to vote randomly for candidates in more than one political party.
“With seven months to the general elections, it is certain voters will not change their choice of candidates, particularly presidential candidates.
Already, majority of voters in the region seem to be titling towards voting one of their own on the grounds that political parties who parade candidates from other parts of the country, do not deserve their votes for various reasons.
According to the ASRP, the current state of the nation fueled by insecurity, poor economy and agitations for equity and fairplay has significantly moulded the mindset of majority of voters in the South East
“This has tilted in favour of one of the leading South East presidential candidates and there is a strong tendency that it will work in favour of the candidate and significantly benefit those on the same political platform with him” part of the survey report stated.
There are four major presidential candidates vying for the 2023 presidential election. They are Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (APC), Atiku Abubakar (PDP), Peter Obi (Labour Party) and Rabiu Kwakwanso (NNNP).
The International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), had predicted that a run off presidential election could be a real possibility for the first time in Nigeria in 2023 since the transition to democracy
