Jonathan explains Bayelsa poor voter turnout

The President, Dr. Goodlu‎ck Jonathan, on Saturday, explained the low turn out of voters in Bayelsa State for the House of Assembly elections.

The President, who did his accreditation without any delay, ‎said the low voter turnout was attributed to the fact that governorship elections did not hold in Bayelsa.

Jonathan’s wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, did not turn up for accreditation ‎at Otuoke.

The president said the House of Assembly elections could not have generated the same level of interest as the Presidential and governorship polls.

The President added that the Assembly elections were not characterised by the same level of mobilisation that should have ensured high voter turnout .

He said, “Naturally, different levels of elections generate different levels of interests. Presidential election is quite interesting; governorship election is quite interesting.

“If we were to have a governorship election in Bayelsa State, of course, we need to mobilise the electorate to come out.

“For the House of Assembly elections, you know the interest is not as high as Presidential or governorship election.”

The President, who also spoke on the chances on the PDP in the elections across the country, stated that he expected the party to perform better.

He explained that while the PDP did well in some states in the Presidential election, the party’s performance was not good in others‎.

The President believed that the PDP would do better in the election.

Jonathan noted that the minor errors associated with card readers must have been rectified by INEC.

‎The turnout of voters is very low in Otuoke.

INEC officials came out with election materials as early as 7am, but the people failed to turn up for accreditation in most of the units.

The situation was such that nine of the polling units were told to move out of the Dame Patience Jonathan Centre, where they were penultimate week to where was described as the traditional locations for the units within Otuoke.