Nearly 90 million people are eligible to vote in the election
\n LAGOS
\nNigerians voted on Saturday for a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari in a tightly fought race, with three frontrunners competing for the first time in the country\u2019s modern history.
\nNearly 90 million people are eligible to vote in the election, which is taking place as Africa\u2019s most populous democracy grapples with a multi-front security crisis, a sluggish economy and widening poverty.
\nFor the first time since the end of military rule in 1999, a third serious candidate has emerged to challenge the dominance of Buhari\u2019s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
\n\u201cIt\u2019s going to be different this time, we have three people,\u201d said Friday Ikwuako, 55, a school employee voting in the affluent Ikoyi district of Lagos. \u201cWe want a change in government.\u201d
\nPolling stations were meant to open at 0730 GMT, but election officials arrived late in numerous centers in Lagos and in southern Port Harcourt and northwest Kano.
\nWith Buhari stepping down after two terms in office, the APC\u2019s Bola Tinubu, 70, a former Lagos governor and political kingmaker, says \u201cIt\u2019s my turn\u201d for the presidency.
\nHe faces a familiar rival \u2014 PDP candidate and former vice president Atiku Abubakar, 76, who is on his sixth bid for the top job and touts his business experience to fix the economy.
\nBut the emergence of a surprise third candidate appealing to young voters, Labour Party\u2019s Peter Obi, 61, has thrown the race open with his campaign for change from his old-guard rivals.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of pressure this year, in the choice. We know how elections go usually and there\u2019s been a lot of promises with this election,\u201d said Osaki Briggs, 25, a photographer voting in Port Harcourt.
\n\u201cOur expectations are higher. We hope we won\u2019t be disappointed.\u201d
\nThe success of Saturday\u2019s election will be closely watched after West Africa\u2019s democratic credentials took a knock from coups in Burkina Faso and Mali and Islamist militancy spread north of Nigeria\u2019s Gulf of Guinea neighbors.
\nMegacity Lagos may have put Nigeria on the global entertainment map today for its Nollywood film industry and global Afrobeats stars like Burna Boy, but the new leader of Africa\u2019s largest economy inherits a complex set of security and financial risks.
\nCash and fuel shortages in the days before the election have also left many Nigerians angry and struggling more than usual in a country already hit by more than 20 percent inflation.
\nPresidential elections have in the past often been marked by violence, ethnic tensions, vote-buying and clashes between supporters of rival parties.
\nNearly 10 million new voters registered this year, most of them under 34, representing an essential bloc if they come out to vote.
\nStreets in Lagos and other cities were calm as traffic was restricted. Groups of boys took advantage to hold impromptu football matches in the empty roads.
\nVoters will also cast their ballot for Nigeria\u2019s two houses of parliament, the National Assembly and Senate. Polls close at 1330 GMT.
\nThe Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has given no timeline for results, but votes are expected to be tallied within a few days. Under a 2022 law, the official results have to be confirmed within 14 days.
\nTo win the presidency, a candidate must get the most votes, but also win 25 percent in two-thirds of Nigeria\u2019s 36 states.
\nIf no candidate wins, a runoff will take place within 21 days between the two frontrunners \u2014 an unprecedented outcome that some analysts say is a possibility this time around.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s difficult for us to make an easy prediction as to what is going to be the likely outcome,\u201d said Kano State College public affairs lecturer Kabiru Sufi.
\nThe rules reflect a country almost equally split between the mostly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south, and with three main ethnic groups across the regions: Yoruba in the southwest, Hausa\/Fulani in the north and Igbo in the southeast.
\nVoting also often falls along ethnic and religious lines.
\nThis time, Tinubu is a southern Yoruba Muslim, Atiku is an ethnic Fulani Muslim from the northeast, and Peter Obi is a Christian Igbo from the southeast.
\nToday, most experts see INEC as being more prepared than in 2019. It has introduced biometric voter IDs to help prevent fraud, and results will be transmitted electronically.
\nAround 400,000 police and troops have been deployed around the country to protect the vote.
\nBut security challenges are vast. Buhari, a former army commander, was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019, on promises to make Nigeria safer and less corrupt.
\nBut miiltants operate mostly in the northeast, bandit militias carry out mass kidnappings in rural communities in the northwest, and separatist gunmen are accused of targeting INEC offices and police in the southeast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nearly 90 million people are eligible to vote in the election LAGOS Nigerians voted on Saturday for a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari in a tightly fought race, with three frontrunners competing for the first time in the country\u2019s modern history. Nearly 90 million people are eligible to vote in the election, which is taking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-316108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n