Nigeria tallies votes for new president

World

Published: 2023-02-26 20:46

Last Updated: 2024-03-29 14:04


Nigeria tallies votes for new president
Nigeria tallies votes for new president

Nigeria was counting ballots Sunday, a day after a historically tight presidential election that has energised Africa's most populous nation, where many long for change.

The vote was mostly peaceful despite some cases of violence, delays and technical glitches, and citizens stayed up late at night in many locations to observe the count and "protect" the ballots.

The slow uploading of results online was starting to stir up fears of electoral malpractice in a country with a history of vote rigging.

Nearly 90 million voters were eligible to vote Saturday for a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, who is stepping down after two terms marked by worsening security and growing poverty.

The election pits former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu, 70, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) against an old rival, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), 76.

But for the first time since the end of military rule in 1999, a third-party candidate, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, has challenged the APC and PDP dominance with a campaign message of change.

Spread over more than 176,000 polling units, voters also cast their ballot for Nigeria's two houses of parliament, the National Assembly and Senate.