Voting Resumes İn Nigeria's South

Voting resumed on Sunday morning in at least four major areas of Nigeria where voters were unable to cast their ballot in yesterday's general elections.



"I can confirm that voting is going on in four different areas and those are Lagos, Federal Capital Territory Abuja, Niger and Taraba state," Kayode Idowu, a spokesman for the Independent National Election Commission (INEC), told the Anadolu Agency.



Lagos electoral commissioner Akin Orebiyi told AA voting was ongoing at in five council areas of Alimosho, Oshodi-Isolo, Kosofe, Eti-Osa and Somolu.



Millions of Nigerians went to the polls Saturday to elect a new president, 360 House of Representatives members and 109 senators.



The presidential race is largely between Jonathan of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), which has ruled the country since 1999, and Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler who is running on the ticket of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), an amalgam of political interests.



A total of 56,431,255 eligible voters were casting their ballot at 119, 973 polling centers across the country.



But voter accreditations had been delayed for hours in many parts of the country over the malfunction of the new electronic "readers" to authenticate voter cards.



President Jonathan himself was unable to accredit for close to one hour as at least three readers failed to identify his card.



The problem forced the INEC to authorize the use of the old manual accreditation system.



But in some polling units accreditation was suspended to Sunday in accordance with the earlier guidelines.



Local source said voting was also holding in Ebonyi and Anambra States in the southeastern region and a few areas in the south south where the electronic card reader malfunctioned for the most part of yesterday.



"I cannot confirm that information at the moment," Idowu told AA when asked to confirm.



Anambra Governor Willie Obiano complained yesterday that the voter card reader did not work across the state.



Collation of election results continue in most parts of the country.



Skeletal result from northeastern Bauchi showed Buhari widening his lead over Jonathan.



In APC stronghold in the southwest, Jonathan has won 14 of the 16 local government areas in Ekiti which is controlled by the ruling PDP, according to an official result from the local councils.



Analysts say Buhari's huge gains in much of the northwest, northeast, southwest and parts of north central regions could be narrowed, evened or eclipsed by results from the south south and southeast regions which are Jonathan's stronghold - but this would be determined by the size of margins each of them leads with in their areas.



The electoral commission, the only body recognized by law to declare official results, hopes to release the poll outcome by Monday.



But it is not clear whether the hitches arising from voter card would make this a reality.



The winner of the presidential race must clinch more than 50 percent of all valid votes plus a mandatory 25 percent in two-thirds of the country's 36 states.



If no candidate is able to win outright, the two frontrunners will compete for a simple majority in a runoff vote.



Aggrieved parties have 30 days from the election to legally challenge final poll results.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Kwara