Nigeria, June 19 -- Ekiti State will head into the 20 June off-cycle governorship election with its largest voter register in history.

Still, the expansion in numbers is unlikely to fundamentally alter how elections are decided in the state.

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the state now has 1,059,360 registered voters, rising steadily from 989,224 in 2022 and 909,585 in 2018.

On paper, this suggests a widening democratic base. In practice, however, Ekiti elections continue to be shaped by a much smaller and more consistent pool of active voters.

INEC also reports that 1,028,929 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) have been collected, leaving 30,431 uncollected, a collection rate of about 97.1 per cent.

Whi...