*BSIEC CHAIRMAN UNDER PRESSURE DUE TO LG POLLS

A cloud of uncertainty is hovering over the proposed Bayelsa state local government elections scheduled for 10 May as indications emerged yesterday that the elections may be shifted to a later date.

Reports reaching BAYELSANEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM gathered that factions within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party were yet to come to terms in the aftermath of the imbroglio that deepened the crisis rocking the party in the last few weeks.

But besides the no love lost situation between factions in the PDP, some of the opposition political parties in the state are said to be gearing up for a show down with the Bayelsa State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC) over its perceived partisanship towards the PDP.

The opposition had accused the ruling PDP led state government of appointing an electoral commission with card-carrying members of the party including the chairman, Mr. Akpoboade Yingomone, former chairman of Sagbama Local Government Area, Mr. Barnabas Edure as Head of Media and Publicity, among others with no regard for the opposition.

Since the controversial conduct of the 28 February state congress, at the end of which a 30-man state executive was"elected" and subsequently inaugurated by Governor Timipre Sylva, the PDP in the state had remained a divided house.

The uncertainty over the local government election became much more evident following the denial of access to the suspended six members of the state's House of Assembly penultimate Tuesday when the House sat to screen and confirm Justice Kate Abiri as the substantive Chief Judge of the state.

The suspended six had vowed that they were not going to stomach the humiliation meted to them that day as they would do all within their reach to amend their dignity battered by the denial of access into the House for the sitting. It was gathered that at a meeting they held in a highbrow hotel in one of the South-South states, they had resolved to use the local government elections as a platform to launch their strategy.

Despite the accusation of connivance with the PDP, the BSIEC's message in a jingle being aired on Radio Bayelsa has been to the effect that all stakeholders should embrace peace and tolerance during the local government elections. Chairman of BSIEC, Mr. Akpoboade Yingomone had also seized every opportunity to explain the neutrality of the commission, saying that the electoral body would provide a level playing field for all parties at the local government polls. However, the opposition has said the BSIEC was insincere in its message.

A reliable source in the opposition informed BAYELSANEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM that since 3rd March when the date for the local government was arrived at during a meeting between the BSIEC and stakeholders, the opposition had been involved in a collaboration to slug it out with the PDP.

According to the source, the opposition would rather ensure that the elections did not hold because all complaints that the BSIEC was improperly constituted had fallen on deaf ears.

The opposition said its position was also justified by the non-provision of voters register as well as non-release of funds by BSIEC. This, it maintained, was a calculated measure to weaken it ahead of the local government elections.

Findings also gathered that the gathering cloud of uncertainty over the local government elections had been giving the BSIEC chairman and his members' sleepless nights as the date of the elections draws closer.

A source in BSIEC revealed that the chairman was under pressure by the factional groups in the PDP and the opposition who had been insisting on 'harmonization' to grant them a fair share of chairmanship seats in the seven local government areas (Ekeremor LGA not inclusive) and councillorship seats in the 105 wards where elections would be conducted.