We check out the numbers behind Nigeria’s elections

Nigerians are set to go to the polls on Saturday to elect the subsequent president of Africa’s most populated state with 216 million folks.

Legislative and senatorial elections will even be held on the identical day. The governors and deputies of the native assemblies of a lot of the 36 states that make up this federal republic might be elected on March eleventh.

93.5 million

The variety of registered voters, in keeping with the Nationwide Electoral Fee. The state of Lagos, the financial lung of the nation (southwest), has the most important quantity, with 7 million registered.

3

The variety of favourites among the many 18 candidates (all however one are males) who’re operating for president:

– Atiku Abubakar, 76, is the candidate of the principle opposition occasion, the Folks’s Democratic Occasion (PDP). This former vice-president (1999-2007) is making an attempt his luck for the sixth time.

– Bola Tinubu, 70, is the candidate of the ruling occasion, the Congress of Progressives (APC). This former governor of Lagos (1999-2007), is nicknamed the “Godfather” due to his immense affect in politics.

– Peter Obi, 61, is the candidate of the Labor Occasion (LP). This former governor of Anambra (south-east) presents himself because the candidate for change and is ultra-popular amongst city youth.

176,606

The variety of polling stations unfold throughout Nigeria (which is nearly twice the scale of France).

240

That is the variety of polling stations that won’t open on Saturday as a result of they haven’t any registered voters, primarily due to insecurity or as a result of native populations have been displaced by the violence.

8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m

These are the opening hours of the polling stations. Voters who will nonetheless be within the queue at 2:30 p.m. might be allowed to slide their poll into the poll field.

200,000

That is the variety of digital digital and facial recognition machines deployed in polling stations, supposed to forestall fraud and counting errors.

14

Underneath the Elections Act 2022, the returning officer for the presidential election should formally verify the consequence, within the type of a sealed certificates, inside 14 days of the ballot.

2/3

To be declared the winner of the presidential election, a candidate should have obtained the best variety of votes and a minimum of 25% of the ballots in a minimum of two-thirds of the 36 states and in Abuja.

21

If not one of the candidates qualifies, there might be a runoff between the highest two candidates inside 21 days, which might be a primary in Nigeria’s democratic historical past.