Nigerians vote in a heated presidential election

• The election is taking place alongside voting for representatives in the country’s parliament.
• Ballots will be counted at polling stations at the end of voting.
• A candidate must receive enough votes to achieve the 25% vote spread in 24 of Nigeria’s 36 states.

Nigerians will vote in a key presidential election to determine the country’s next leader. The closely contested election is taking place alongside voting for representatives in the country’s parliament.

According to INEC, around 93 million Nigerians are registered to vote, but only 87 million have a permanent voter card (PVC), which is required to vote.

The polls will open at 8:30 a.m. local time and conclude at 2:30 p.m. (or 2:30 a.m. ET Saturday to 8:30 a.m. ET). Nonetheless, those who are in line to vote by the deadline will be allowed to vote, according to INEC.

Ballots will be counted at polling stations at the end of voting and electronically transferred in real-time to INEC’s Result Viewing platform (IReV), a first in Nigeria.

“With the electronic transmission system (IREV), people will already know the winners before the official announcement is made,” adds Rotimi Oyekanmi, a spokesman for INEC’s chairperson.

To win, a candidate must receive enough votes to achieve the 25% vote spread in 24 of Nigeria’s 36 states. In the absence of this, the top two candidates will face off in a second-round run-off within 21 days.

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