Nigeria began announcing the very first presidential results on Sunday after a very close vote between three favorites.
More than 87 million voters were called on Saturday to choose from among 18 candidates, including a woman, the man who will succeed President Muhammadu Buhari, who is not standing for re-election under the Constitution, after two terms at the head of the country.
The announcement of the results, state by state, began shortly before 7:00 p.m. local time, but will take time. After giving the figures for Ekiti, a small state in the south-west, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) postponed the rest until Monday morning. Nigeria has 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Earlier on Sunday, opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar called on INEC to remain neutral and publish the results as soon as possible, accusing some governors of trying to undermine the electoral process .
“It will be a disservice to Nigerians and a negation of democracy if anyone subverts the will of the people as freely expressed at the ballot box yesterday,” the former vice president said in a statement. is running for the presidency for the sixth time.
For its part, the Labor Party of outsider Peter Obi accused the INEC on Saturday evening of “refusing to report the results” in Lagos State – which has the highest number of registered voters in the country ( 7 million) – and that of the Delta (southeast).
MM. Obi and Abubakar are among the trio of favorites competing with 70-year-old Bola Tinubu, a representative of the ruling Congress of Progressives (APC) party. Considered one of the most influential men in the country, this former governor of Lagos, warned: this time, “it’s my turn”.
In a statement, INEC acknowledged “technical problems” with the use of new technologies to collect and centralize results from some 176,000 polling stations for the first time in a national election. However, she assured that “these results are safe and cannot be falsified”.
The vote took place generally calmly, despite a few security incidents and logistical hiccups, which caused delays.
Nigeria could experience, for the first time since 1999, a two-round presidential election if Peter Obi, who has managed to establish himself as a serious challenger against the two parties traditionally dominating Nigerian politics, transforms the test at the polls.
The former governor of Anambra (south-east), a 61-year-old Christian, is very popular with young people.
His two main opponents, both septuagenarians and political heavyweights, enjoy a broad national base.
To be elected in the first round, the winner must obtain, in addition to the majority of the votes cast, at least 25% of the votes in two thirds of the 36 States of the Federation plus the territory of Abuja. Otherwise a second round should take place within 21 days.