Nigerians vote Saturday in the nation’s presidential elections. The following is a timeline of when to expect key announcements.
(Bloomberg) —
Nigerians vote Saturday in the nation’s presidential elections. The following is a timeline of when to expect key announcements.
- Voting in Africa’s biggest democracy is taking place at 176,606 polling stations. About 93.5 million people registered to cast their ballots for 1,491 elective posts, including the president, lawmakers, governors and state assembly representatives.
- While 87.2 million people who collected their voters’ cards are eligible to cast their ballots, in reality Nigeria may have low voter turnout because of cash shortages spawned by a central bank demonetization program and security fears. In the last two election cycles, only 35% of voters turned out to vote, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
- Polls are scheduled to close at 2.30 p.m. local time, though INEC has said it will extend voting hours for those already in queues before the deadline expires. INEC officials will immediately begin counting ballots once voting ends, with the votes for president being tallied first.
- INEC has said it expects to declare the winner of the polls by Feb. 27.
- Presidential candidates must secure the majority vote and more than 25% of ballots in at least 24 of Nigeria’s 36 states to succeed President Mummadu Buhari. If no candidate meets that threshold, a new election shall be held within 14 days in which the winner will compete against the runner-up.
- Any legal challenge to the outcome must be submitted to the Election Tribunal within 21 days of the declaration of the results and the person declared winner will remain in office pending determination of the appeal, according to Nigeria’s Electoral Act of 2022. The tribunal will deliver a judgment in writing within 180 days of the date of the filing of the petition. That ruling can be challenged in the Appeal Court and then the Supreme Court.
- If the Supreme Court determines the election of the president-elect to be invalid — which would be a first for Nigeria — a new election shall be held within 21 days of the ruling.
- The swearing-in of the president-elect is scheduled to take place on May 29, the anniversary of Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.
(Corrects number of voters who collected their voting cards in second bullet.)
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