Nigerians across the country hit the polls on Saturday, casting votes in a hotly contested presidential election between two candidates with opposing backgrounds.
President Goodluck Jonathan is running for reelection. He is a Christian with supporters in the mainly Christian south, and has been blasted for what critics have called a slow response to radical militants in Nigeria's northeast. Jonathan's main opponent is Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim with a support base in the predominantly Muslim north, who was the military ruler of Nigeria for nearly two years during the 1980s. Buhari is thought to be the first presidential candidate in Nigeria with a legitimate chance to unseat Jonathan. The two men are frontrunners among 14 candidates.
The Nigerian government postponed the original February date for its presidential election because it said it needed time to drive out Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has a presence in Nigeria's northeast, to ensure citizens in that region could vote.
Women queuing to vote in Nigeria. Makes our turnout rates slightly shaming, no? #Nigeriadecides pic.twitter.com/yqstWbu89i— Daniel Hannan (@DanHannanMEP) March 28, 2015
The Nigerian military recently captured Boko Haram's de facto capital, driving the extremists toward the country's Cameroonian border. Although Jonathan has been criticized for his response to Boko Haram, the recent turnaround may help him at the polls.
Still, the threat of violence looms over the election. Boko Haram militants have killed at least six voters on Saturday, Reuters reported.
Many also fear possible riots after the election results are announced, especially since Jonathan and Buhari represent opposite parts of Nigeria. Around 1,000 people reportedly died in riots after the country's 2011 presidential election. This year, dozens have been killed ahead of the 2015 election amid heightened ethnic and religious tensions.
The scene at Girls Sec Sch, Abayi Aba, Polling Unit 009. Accreditation about to start. 11.02am #NigeriaDecides pic.twitter.com/qPRhurrCRT— Ekekeee.com (@ekekeee) March 28, 2015
Voters have also had to contend with long lines and faulty voter-identification equipment. Even Jonathan had to be accredited manually after three newly imported card readers were unable to recognize his fingerprints. Biometric voting cards and readers are being used for the first time to discourage the kind of fraud that has marred previous votes.
Efu-Lubasa polling unit Lavun LGA, NIGER STATE accreditation has started, there is orderliness bt no police presence pic.twitter.com/ORD42R4aAa— Nigerian (@babannura) March 28, 2015
Polling stations opened late in most places. Voter registration was scheduled to start at 8 a.m., local time, and still was ongoing in the afternoon, when voting was supposed to start.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, which oversees voting in Nigeria, tweeted on Saturday that voters in areas where identification equipment failed will be able to vote on Sunday. Nearly 60 million people have cards to vote.
#BREAKING 1) INEC has been monitoring field reports on the accreditation process since commencement this morning— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
#BREAKING 2) Whereas the process has gone well in several places, in some others it has encountered some challenges esp the card readers— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
#BREAKING 5) ..Elections in such PUs will be postponed to the next day.— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
For now, analysts say the results are too close to call.
Additional reporting by The Associated Press