Nigeria’s election results are being disputed before they’ve even been announced, thanks to sporadic violence Sunday.
The All Progressives Congress accused its opposition, President Goodluck Jonathan’s supporters, of killing its campaigners and called the vote in the oil-rich Rivers state “a sham and a charade,” Reuters reported.
“Whatever trash will [be] announced as the result of today’s election is not acceptable to us,” the All Progressives Congress said.
Hundreds of sympathizers outside the Port Harcourt electoral commission office chanted “APC” and stoned a car thought to carry ballots.
Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission said the first results from the 120,000 polling stations should be available Sunday evening. The election boasted a high turnout among the 56.7 million registered voters.
Jonathan is running against the former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari. Ethnic, regional and religious lines divide voters.
Dismissing the vote in Rivers would affect the national outcome and could risk repeating the aftermath of the last election in 2011, when Jonathan beat Buhari and 800 people were killed and 65,000 more were displaced.
Already, Boko Haram militants killed more than a dozen voters in the northeast, and at least two were killed in Port Harcourt.
Likewise, the People’s Democratic Party accused the All Progressives Congress of using underage voters.
The election was extended to Sunday after voter identification machines faced technical glitches on Saturday.
