The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) West Africa has commended voters’ peaceful conduct in Saturday’s governorship election in Ondo State.

Victor Adetula, the lead, CDD Observation Mission, Ondo 2024, gave the commendation during the election analysis in Akure on Saturday.

“CDD commends voters in Ondo State for the calm and peaceful manner in which they have conducted all through this process so far,” Mr Adetula said.

He, however, said there were reported cases of vote trading and inducement during the voting process.

Mr Adetula explained that the group observed the presence of security agencies at all polling units, contributing to crowd control, thereby minimising vote trading and open campaigning at the polling units.

According to him, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine was effective and used with the exception of some cases.

He stated that the group would actively monitor the collation and result upload process to see if the machines were actively and dutifully used at all stages of the election process.

Mr Adetula urged all stakeholders in the electoral process to ensure adherence to the rule of law and due process during collation and declaration of results to the point of conclusion.

(NAN)