The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed the State House of Assembly election in eight of the 24 constituencies in Bayelsa state.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Baritor Kpagih, said in a statement on Friday that the elections for the affected constituencies would hold on April 18.

The REC said the election in those constituencies had to be postponed by one week due to inadequate ballot papers.

“The election was shifted because of the position of stakeholders that election should not hold without full complements of the ballot papers. They maintained that unless there was 100 percent supply of ballot papers, there should be no election,” Mr. Kpagih said.

“And unfortunately from what we received from INEC headquarters in Abuja, there were some shortfalls. That was why we had to shift the elections.”

According to the REC, the councils were elections have been postponed are Ekeremor Constituencies 1, 2, and 3, Kolokuma/Opokuma Constituencies 1 and 2, Sagbama Constituencies 1 and 2 and Southern Ijaw Constituency 1.

Mr. Kpagih also blamed pirates for disrupting the distribution of election materials to coastal areas in the state and said the development might adversely affect the conduct of the elections in the remaining constituencies on Saturday.

He however said elections would hold on Saturday, as scheduled, in the remaining 16 constituencies in the state.


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