Counting operations began on Saturday afternoon in Nigeria, which elects the president of Africa’s most populous country in a close ballot between three favorites, but voting continued in many places due to delays and incidents. isolated.
After two terms marked by an explosion of insecurity and poverty in this country where 60% of the population is under 25, President Muhammadu Buhari, 80, is stepping down as required by the Constitution.
And for the first time since the return to democracy in 1999, the popularity of an outsider is shaking up the predominance of the two main parties and Nigeria could experience a two-round presidential election.
“One! Two! Three!” Voters counted aloud at a polling station in Port Harcourt (southeast) as poll workers counted the first ballots.
Juliette Ogbonda, a 30-year-old receptionist, was among many voters who decided to stay after the vote: “I want to make sure this election is transparent, free and fair.”
More than 87 million voters were called in 176,000 polling stations to choose a president among 18 candidates, as well as deputies and senators.
At 2:30 p.m. local time (1:30 p.m. GMT), the official closing time, the first counts began in Lagos (south-east) or even in Abuja (center) where the vote took place generally in a calm environment, journalists noted. from AFP.
But at the end of the afternoon, the ballot continued in several offices across the country such as in Anambra (south-east) or Kano (north), where voters began to vote well after 08:30 (official opening time). ), mainly due to delays in hardware deployment or technical failures.
“Here, voting didn’t start until noon, supposedly because their machine wasn’t working,” laments Blessing Mbanefo, who is queuing for long hours outside a polling station in Akwa (southeast).
But “I’m ready to sleep here if necessary, I came to vote and I will,” said the 21-year-old student.
This is the first time that new technologies have been used on a national scale. The identification of voters by facial and digital recognition should limit the fraud that has tainted previous polls, as should the electronic transfer of results.
Isolated incidents, with attempts at intimidation and attacks by thugs in some offices, notably in Lagos, have been reported by the Electoral Commission (Inec), which however affirms that the electoral process is continuing.
In the morning, ruling party (APC) candidate Bola Tinubu, 70, cast his vote in his stronghold of Lagos where, dressed in a blue caftan, he was greeted by a packed crowd.
The former governor (1999-2007) is nicknamed the “godfather” because of his political influence. Yoruba of Muslim faith, he claims to be the only one who can straighten out Nigeria and has already warned: this time, “it’s my turn” to govern.
But nothing is played against his two main opponents. At 76, former vice-president Atiku Abubakar, of the opposition (PDP, in power from 1999 to 2015), will run for the presidency for the sixth time.
Originally from the north and of the Muslim faith, he hopes to win many votes there.
After voting in Yola (north-east), the candidate – who in 2019 had contested his defeat against President Buhari – declared: “this election is more credible than the previous ones”.
The outsider is the former governor of Anambra (south-east) Peter Obi, a 61-year-old Christian, supported by the small Labor Party (LP), and very popular with young people and in his region.
“If this election is free and credible, then I think I will win,” he told AFP after casting his vote in his native village, Amatutu.
This vote is crucial. Nigeria – 216 million inhabitants – is expected to become the third most populous country in the world by 2050, while West Africa is threatened by strong democratic backsliding and the spread of jihadist violence.
The continent’s leading economy has become a global cultural power, thanks in particular to Afrobeats, a musical genre that is setting the planet on fire with stars like Burna Boy and Wizkid.
But the future president will above all inherit a myriad of problems: criminal and jihadist violence in the north and center, separatist unrest in the southeast, galloping inflation, widespread impoverishment.
To make matters worse, recent shortages of gasoline and banknotes have sparked riots.
Participation, low in previous elections (33% in 2019) was still unknown at the end of the afternoon.
The results are to be announced within 14 days, but the Commission has promised to make them public as soon as possible.
02/25/2023 18:56:08 – Lagos (AFP) – © 2023 AFP