The 2019 Bayelsa State gubernatorial election occurred on 16 November 2019, the APC nominee David Lyon won the election, defeating

Douye Diri Douye Diri (born 4 June 1959) is a Nigerian politician who has served as the governor of Bayelsa State since 2020. He was the senator representing Bayelsa Central Senatorial District from 2019 to 2020 in the 9th National Assembly. Early lif ...

of the

PDP PDP may refer to: Computing and technology * Packet Data Protocol in wireless GPRS/HSDPA networks * Parallel distributed processing in Connectionism#Parallel distributed processing, connectionism * Plasma display panel * Policy Decision Point in t ...

. David Lyon emerged APC gubernatorial candidate after defeating his closest rival, Diseye Nsirim. He picked

Biobarakuma Degi Biobarakuma Wangagha Degi Eremienyo (born 22 February 1959), is a Nigerian politician and the senator representing Bayelsa East senatorial district of Bayelsa State at the 9th National Assembly. In 2019, he was appointed the vice chairman sena ...

as his running mate.

was the PDP candidate with Lawrence Ewrujakpor as his running mate. 45 candidates contested in the election. On 14 February 2020, due to irregularities in the filing of the candidacy of David Lyon's running mate, the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

annulled the election results. Under Nigerian election law, Douye Diri, as the second highest earner of votes, became governor.

Electoral system

The

Governor of Bayelsa State The Governor of Bayelsa State functions as both the chief security officer and the chief executive of the state government. As one of the governors of Nigeria’s thirty-six states, the governor and the deputy governor are elected by popular vote ...

is elected using a modified

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

. To be elected in the first round, a candidate must receive the plurality of the vote and over 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of

local government areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The ph ...

. If no candidate passes this threshold, a second round will be held between the top candidate and the next candidate to have received a plurality of votes in the highest number of local government areas.

APC primary

The APC

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

was held on 4 September 2019. David Lyon won the primary election with 42,138 votes against 5 other candidates. His closest rival was Diseye Nsirim, who came a distant second with 1,533 votes.

Candidates

* David Lyon, businessman *Diseye Nsirim *

Heineken Lokpobiri Heineken Lokpobiri (born 3 March 1967) is a Nigerian politician who is the minister of state for Petroleum Resources (Oil). He previously served as minister of state for Agriculture and Rural Development from 2015 to 2019, and as Senator represe ...

, former senator *Preye Aganaba *Prince Amgbare *Maureen Etebu

Results

PDP primary

The PDP

was held on September 3, 2019.

won the primary election with 561 votes against 20 other candidates. His closest rival was

Timi Alaibe Timi Alaibe (born June 10, 1962) is a Nigerian technocrat, businessman and politician from Bayelsa State. He is former Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Early life and family Ndutimi (Timi) Alaibe is a Nigerian tech ...

, a former managing director of the

Niger Delta Development Commission The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is a federal government agency established by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo in the year 2000, with the sole mandate of developing the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. In Septemb ...

, who came second with 365 votes, Gboribiogha Jonah, the incumbent deputy governor, scored 62 votes.

Candidates

, senator *Keniebi Okoko *

, former managing director of the

* Gboribiogha Jonah, incumbent deputy governor *17 other candidates

Results

A total number of 45 candidates registered with the

Independent National Electoral Commission Independent National Electoral Commission may refer to: *Independent National Electoral Commission (Burundi) *Independent National Electoral Commission (Democratic Republic of the Congo) *Independent National Electoral Commission (Guinea) The Inde ...

to contest in the election. The total number of registered voters in the state was 922,562, while 517,883 voters were accredited. Total number of votes cast was 505,884, while number of valid votes was 499,551. Rejected votes were 6,333.

By local government area

References

{{Authority control

Bayelsa Bayelsa is a state in the South South region of Nigeria, located in the core of the Niger Delta. Bayelsa State was created in 1996 and was carved out from Rivers State, making it one of the newest states in the federation. The capital, Yenagoa, ...

Bayelsa State gubernatorial election

gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

Bayelsa State gubernatorial elections