Nigeria is in the midst of a tense wait as election authorities count tens of millions of votes that will determine who will become president in Africa\u2019s most populous country and control its national assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Voting on Saturday was\u00a0marred by widespread delays\u00a0and some scattered violence but fears of widespread chaos proved unfounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Early hopes that official nationwide results could be expected from late on Sunday appear optimistic as a new system deployed by Nigeria\u2019s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has developed significant technical problems. The final election tally is expected by the middle of next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Analysts speak of a \u201cbellwether\u201d election that could be a crucial turning point for Nigeria after several years of worsening insecurity and acute economic troubles. Many believe a credible poll and progress in tackling the country\u2019s multiple problems is key to stability across a swath of Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Sunday morning, people gathered at a newspaper stand in the Falomo area of Lagos, hoping to learn of early results. \u201cWe are very happy this morning because we have witnessed one of the most peaceful elections in Nigeria and more people turned out than usually,\u201d said Orubibi Dighobo, a 27-year-old mechanic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On nearby Victoria Island, Dennis Olatunji, a 42-year-old vendor, said he was worried a long delay to results could cause tensions to rise. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a problem for everybody, whoever they voted for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eighteen candidates are vying to replace the outgoing two-term president, Muhammadu Buhari, but only three are considered to have a credible chance of winning power: Bola Tinubu, from the ruling All Progressives Congress; Atiku Abubakar, of the main opposition People\u2019s Democratic party; and the Labour party\u2019s Peter Obi, who is leading in some polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tinubu, 70, and Atiku, 76, are seen as traditional politicians representing Nigeria\u2019s established political elite. Obi, 62, is considered a reformist who has reached across the country\u2019s faultlines to woo voters from all ethnic and religious communities. His challenge threatens the dominance of the two parties in power since the end of military rule in 1999, making Saturday\u2019s election the most competitive for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Saturday, Obi said he was confident of victory. \u201cI have the mental capacity, energy and drive to lead this country. We need to get things right in Nigeria,\u201d the tycoon\u00a0told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Observers differed over the turnout, with no reliable counts yet available. Some early estimates suggest a high turnout, which would be expected to deliver a boost to Obi, who is popular among young people who make up about a third of the 87 million eligible voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tinubu, whose campaign slogan was \u201cit\u2019s my turn\u201d, said he was\u00a0\u201ccertain of victory\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though the contest looks close, Nigerian electoral law makes a runoff unlikely as the winning candidate needs only a plurality of votes, provided they get 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of the 36 states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nigerian electoral officials said they remained confident about the electoral process. \u201cWe have lost ballot boxes here and there \u2026 but we will continue to protect the process and we will continue to proceed courageously and ensure that we conclude this in a very free, fair and credible manner,\u201d said the INEC\u2019s chair, Mahmood Yakubu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The multiple delays, incidents of disruption and technological problems with the new voting systems have come in for fierce criticism. Yiaga Africa, a coalition of civil society groups, said it had concerns about \u201cvoter suppression and irregularities\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt gets to the point where we can no longer accept the excuses [of INEC],\u201d a spokesperson for the coalition said at a press conference on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nigeria is contending with multiple intersecting crises including economic turmoil, extremism and\u00a0criminalityaffecting much of the country. In recent weeks, an effort to replace almost all Nigeria\u2019s bank notes \u2013 in part to reduce the widespread practice of vote-buying \u2013 has caused massive economic disruption and much popular anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, analysts point out this is the seventh poll held since the end of military rule in 1999 and that some Nigerian democratic institutions are growing stronger. That none of the main candidates are former military officers \u2013 a first for a Nigerian poll \u2013 is also viewed as an achievement. The decision of Buhari, 80, to respect the constitutional two-term limit has also been cited as a positive sign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria is in the midst of a tense wait as election authorities count tens of millions of votes that will determine who will become president in Africa\u2019s most populous country and control its national assembly. Voting on Saturday was\u00a0marred by widespread delays\u00a0and some scattered violence but fears of widespread chaos proved unfounded. Early hopes that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":29839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1648,9466,7358,9467,3820,10387,8924,6369,6693,7747,539,11356,913,2825,911,374,5494,10096,1828,324,6698,10342,3874,10634,11137,5572,9683,7155,434,5549,10543,4455,11973,11698,3805,11377,1776,13301,10097,10885,3954,594,5140],"class_list":["post-29838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-africa","tag-atiku-abubakar","tag-bank","tag-bola-tinubu","tag-buhari","tag-campaign","tag-chance","tag-chaos","tag-congress","tag-crises","tag-delay","tag-delays","tag-democratic","tag-democratic-party","tag-election","tag-electoral-commission","tag-energy","tag-inec","tag-labour","tag-labour-party","tag-lagos","tag-law","tag-lead","tag-lost","tag-make-up","tag-military","tag-millions","tag-national-assembly","tag-nigeria","tag-nigerian","tag-nigerians","tag-of-lagos","tag-one","tag-politicians","tag-president","tag-presidential","tag-presidential-election","tag-results","tag-tinubu","tag-victory","tag-will","tag-who","tag-young"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}