Although 17 parties fielded candidates for today’s on-going governorship election in Ondo State, there are only three main contestants, and analysts have predicted the poll will largely be a three-horse race.

The three parties are the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), with incumbent Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, Mr Eyitayo Jegede, and Deputy Governor Agboola Ajayi as the respective candidates.

Some political parties that initially showed interest in the election have also collapsed their structures to support the main candidates, particularly those of the PDP and the APC.

For instance, the chairmen of 11 parties, earlier in the week announced the decision of their parties to support the PDP candidate.

Despite that, Akeredolu, Jegede, and Ajayi are heavyweights in the governorship election as their structures spread across the 18 local government areas of the state. This is coupled with the fact that they were considered to have had the financial strength to run their campaigns when compared to other candidates.

Due to their popularity across the state, it is almost impossible to predict who will win among the three politicians.

Interestingly, the three candidates are from each of the three senatorial districts of the state. Akeredolu is from Ondo North, Jegede from Ondo Central, and Ajayi from Ondo South.

It was gathered that until the last minute of the campaign, the candidates were still gaining support in their respective strongholds, where they are expected to get large votes and miscellaneously get the constitutionally required number of votes from the other areas where they are less popular.

In spite of the closeness in the ratings of the trio, political observers have still managed to rate the chances of the three candidates across the 18 local government areas, though it is still difficult to ascertain who the winners will be in the areas.

During the campaign, it was observed that the three candidates were welcomed by their mammoth supporters. Their campaign venues were always full, which signified the popularity and acceptability of the candidates in the local government areas.

Political analysts predicted Akeredolu to win and have massive votes in Owo Local Government Area, where he’s from, as well as in Odigbo Local Government Area.

Though Odigbo Local Government Area is in the southern senatorial district, its inhabitants are mainly non-indigenes of the state. Besides being the third highly populated local government area in terms of voter registration, with over 120,000 registered voters, the local government area comprises mostly people from Osun and Kwara states, which are APC-controlled states.

According to observers, Jegede may win Akure South Local Government Area, where he is from and which is the largest local government area in the state in terms of voter registration. It has over 248,000 registered voters who comprise both indigenes and non-indigenes of the local government area.

In addition to that, with the perceived popularity of the PDP candidate among the people of Akure, coupled with the determination of his kinsmen to support him in this election, victory is also predicted for Jegede in the Akure North Local Government Area.

The Deputy Governor, Ajayi, is from the Ese Odo Local Government Area in the southern senatorial district. Being his local government area, his people would prefer to vote for their ‘son’ rather than an outsider.

He is also expected to win in Ondo West and Ondo East local government areas, owing to his backing by a former governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, who is also the National Leader of the ZLP, in the election.

Mimiko always won the two local government areas since 1999, regardless of his political party. Observers said Ajayi would also win the two local government areas in today’s election.

In general, a total of seven local government areas are expected to be won by the three candidates, leaving the 11 other local government areas as battlegrounds.

According to analysts, the battleground local government areas are Akoko North-East, Akoko North-West, Akoko South-East, Akoko South-West, Ose, Ifedore, Idanre, Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo, Okitipupa, Irele, and Ilaje.

However, some political analysts have noted that Akeredolu may have an edge over the two other contestants, being a sitting governor.

•Extracted from a Saturday PUNCH report.

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