Afrigather Voters in Africa’s greatest financial system and most populous nation are heading to the polls on Feb. 25 to elect a brand new president and lawmakers amid rising frustration over unprecedented insecurity, industrial-scale oil theft and surging inflation.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who will full his constitutionally allowed two phrases in Might, will not be on the poll. Voters may also select new senators and members for the Home of Representatives. Governorship races comply with on March 11.
Here’s what that you must know concerning the election.
Who’s working?
A complete of 18 candidates are vying for the presidency. However the primary contest is between Bola Tinubu from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the primary opposition Folks’s Democratic Get together (PDP) and the Labour Get together’s Peter Obi, who’s main in some polls.
A scarcity of dependable polling makes it troublesome to foretell the winner, however the ruling occasion has a significant benefit because it is ready to use the state equipment to mobilise assist.
Tinubu and Atiku have important energy bases throughout Nigeria, whereas Obi is banking on frustration over the financial system and insecurity to show voters in opposition to the 2 main events.
What are the primary points?
Africa’s high oil producer is a key Western ally within the combat in opposition to Islamist insurgents in west Africa.
The highest challenge for a lot of Nigerian voters is spreading insecurity, from kidnappings for ransom within the northwest to a 13-year Islamist insurgency within the northeast, separatist violence within the southeast and decades-old ethnic tensions largely between herders and farmers within the north central.
Double-digit inflation is at its highest in almost 20 years, and Nigerians say life is tougher than when Buhari took workplace in 2015.
The naira forex plunged to document lows as unprecedented oil theft knocked crude exports final yr, and endemic corruption stays a scourge.
Because the financial system suffers, a whole bunch of Nigerians are leaving the nation in a punishing mind drain that’s stretching a weak healthcare system and disrupting providers from banking to tech.
What do the events provide?
There are not any clear ideological variations between the 2 main events. Competitors for dwindling oil revenues, patronage and ethnic rivalries sometimes play a much bigger position in Nigeria’s elections than ideology.
Obi, who left the PDP final yr and was Atiku’s working mate in 2019, casts himself as a reformist keen to overtake Nigeria’s political system. However on coverage, there may be little separating the primary candidates. Tinubu, Atiku and Obihave all made reviving the financial system and ending insecurity high priorities, promising higher pay for safety forces and extra army tools to defeat insurgents.
Their manifestos say they might scrap a gasoline subsidy that value $10 billion final yr however differ on how rapidly they might do it. Additionally they promise to reform the foreign exchange market and make investments extra in training.
How will the election work?
Some 93.4 million folks have registered to vote, of whom three quarters are between the ages of 18 and 49.
The problem for the events, nevertheless, will likely be getting out the vote. Many youthful Nigerians don’t relate to the 2 major-party candidates, who’re each septuagenarian political veterans. In 2019, voter turnout was 35%, electoral fee figures confirmed.
Nigeria has an extended historical past of electoral fraud.
This yr, nevertheless, the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC) is utilizing a Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to establish voters by fingerprints and facial recognition, hoping it will curb rigging.
On voting day, outcomes will likely be pasted exterior polling stations and despatched by BVAS to an INEC portal in Abuja. They are going to be displayed on the portal in actual time and the general public can view them.
Official outcomes are anticipated inside 5 days. The candidate with essentially the most votes will likely be declared the winner if they’ve not less than one-quarter of the vote in two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and the capital. In any other case there will likely be a run-off between the 2 high candidates inside 21 days.
