ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria’s election fee introduced the primary outcomes late Sunday from the nation’s intently watched presidential election, but it surely might days earlier than a winner is said.

The ruling All Progressives Congress social gathering’s candidate, Bola Tinubu, secured probably the most votes in southwest Nigeria‘s Ekiti state, the fee stated on the nationwide collation middle within the capital, Abuja.

Outcomes from 35 different states and Abuja had been nonetheless pending after logistical issues and safety issues triggered voting delays. Folks throughout the nation continued casting ballots Sunday although the overall election, which included selecting a brand new nationwide legislature, had been scheduled to finish Saturday.

“We’re conscious there might be many extra states concluding tonight and )tallies) coming to Abuja,” Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee, stated.

Voters keenly awaited for the announcement of the winner within the race to guide Africa’s most populous nation, the place incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is stepping down after two four-year phrases.

There have been three front-runners within the 18-party race: Tinubu, the principle opposition social gathering’s Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi with the Labour Occasion, the shock candidate in what was lengthy thought to be a two-person contest.

A winner just isn’t anticipated to be introduced till at the least Monday. After the final presidential election, it took 4 days for a declaration of victory. A runoff election might be held if no candidate secures one-quarter of the votes from two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and the capital metropolis together with receiving the best variety of votes.

On Sunday, worshippers on the Home on the Rock church in Abuja had been requested to sing and dance in thanksgiving for a profitable election. And in Enugu state, Catholic Bishop Igwebuike Onah urged the election fee to be clear:

“We beg particularly the Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee to watch out, even handed and clear in dealing with the votes of the folks,” he stated.

Some pissed off voters who had been unable to forged ballots Saturday waited in a single day at polling stations that stayed open on Sunday.

“I waited from morning until night time to vote on Sunday and now they’re taking time to announce (the winner),” Kate Imadu, 26, in Abuja.

Election officers blamed the delays on logistical points, although different observers pointed to the upheaval created by a redesigned forex that has left many residents unable to acquire financial institution notes.

The money scarcity affected transportation not just for voters but in addition for election staff and law enforcement officials offering safety. The challenges additionally doubtless resulted in low voter turnout, stated Yiaga Africa, the nation’s largest election monitoring physique.

Whereas Saturday’s election was largely peaceable, observers stated there have been at the least 135 essential incidents, together with eight experiences of ballot-snatching, that undermined the legitimacy of the nation’s democracy,

“It’s unacceptable that Nigerians who’ve the constitutional rights to take part in an election exit to forged their vote and you’ve got thugs who make it troublesome for them,” stated Samson Itodo, the pinnacle of Yiaga Africa. “The nation wants to essentially rise and condemn these acts of voter suppression that we noticed yesterday,” he stated.

Related Press journalists noticed armed males pull as much as a voting station in a minibus Saturday, fireplace photographs within the air and seize the presidential poll field. The photographs despatched voters screaming and scattering, and ballots strewn throughout the ground.

Within the capital, Abuja, some voters stated they had been barred from voting in any respect.

“They employed numerous methods to make it possible for we don’t proceed to vote,” stated Emmanuel Ogbu. The 45-year-old dealer waited with greater than 100 folks to vote Sunday however was informed by election officers they did not have sufficient provides, equivalent to ink, and wanted to attend for the supervisor who had but to reach.

The elections had been being fastidiously watched as Nigeria is Africa’s largest economic system. By 2050, the U.N. estimates that Nigeria will tie with america because the third most populous nation on this planet after India and China.

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Related Press reporters Taiwo Ajayi in Abuja, Nigeria, Hilary Uguru in Asaba, Nigeria, and Sam Mednick in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, contributed.