Nigeria’s presidential election… ‘Three-way battle’ composition, promising candidate for ‘corruption eradication’ pledge

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Presidential elections in Nigeria to select a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari began on the 25th (local time).

The Associated Press and others reported that voting for the presidential election began on this day at about 140,000 polling stations across Nigeria amid threats of violence from Islamic militants in the north and separatist forces in the south.

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Voting will run for six hours from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. local time.

On this day, voters waited in a long line from early morning in front of the polling station to vote.

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It was reported that some polling stations were not ready and the voting started late.

According to the Nigeria Electoral Commission (Election Commission), out of a population of 210 million, 93 million people are registered as voters, and only 87 million people hold a permanent voter card, which is a condition for voting.

The competition for this presidential election has been compressed into a ‘three wave war’ among a total of 18 candidates.

There are observations that Labor Party candidate Peter Obi is likely to win. In various opinion polls during the election campaign, Candidate Obi consistently ran in the lead.

He promised to eradicate corruption and emphasized the expectation that he is the only candidate who can restore the economy, gaining wide support among young voters.

Nigeria has the highest percentage of young people in the world and a high percentage of young voters. Of its 210 million people, 64 million are aged 18 to 35.

The other two candidates are Bola Tinubu of the ruling Pan Progressive Congress Party and Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party.

Candidate Tinubu contributed to the election of President Buhari in the last presidential election and has received strong support from the ruling party. Abubakar is vice president and one of Nigeria’s wealthiest businessmen.

President Buhari is evaluated as having failed to solve problems such as attacks by Islamic militants and economic stagnation during the past eight years in power.

In particular, since the government promoted a ‘cashless economy’ to curb corruption and inflation, the public’s anger is amplifying as confusion has arisen due to a shortage of cash in circulation.

In addition, the Corona 19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have also contributed to the Nigerian economic downturn.

Nigerians are known to be desperate for change.

In the Nigerian presidential election, the winner is confirmed if the person receiving the largest number of votes receives at least 25% of the vote in at least 24 of the 36 states. If no such vote is obtained, a runoff will be held within 21 days between the candidate receiving the most votes and the candidate receiving the majority of votes in the most states.

Source: Donga

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