The presidential election in Nigeria has been given an initial thumbs up by observers, but early indications on Sunday showed sharp divisions between the mainly Muslim north and mostly Christian south.
While President Goodluck Jonathan was the favourite going in to the race in Africa’s most populous nation, turnout appeared especially high in the north, the power base of his main opponent, ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari.
Early results from various districts published by local newspapers showed Buhari performing well in the north and Jonathan strong in the south, raising the possibility of a runoff between the two.
Given the size of Nigeria — a country of some 150 million people — it remained too early to draw any firm conclusions on Saturday’s vote.
The electoral commission has said it intends to release full results within 48 hours after the end of voting in Africa’s largest oil producer.
“There’s good news in this Nigerian presidential election: we’re counting actual votes and people are interested in the count,” said Chidi Odinkalu of the Open Society Justice Initiative NGO.
“And quite bad news: the country is badly divided, north vs. south.”
It is a scenario many analysts had hoped to avoid in a country as fractious as Nigeria, a nation of some 250 ethnic groups and roughly divided in half between Christians and Muslims.
In the months leading up to the polls, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party sought to heal internal rifts over whether it should abandon Jonathan, a southern Christian, in favour of a candidate from the north.
Jonathan, the first president from the oil-producing Niger Delta region, won out in the end, but bitterness remained. Many in the north saw Buhari as their chance to return power to their economically marginalised region.
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