BY FLORA LYIMO DESIGNER*
Goodluck Jonathan is set for election as Nigeria's president, with almost double the vote of his main rival as the count nears completion.
Figures provided by regional officials suggest the incumbent - a Christian from the oil-producing Niger Delta - has enough votes to avoid a run-off.The head of the African Union observer team said it had been Nigeria's best election for decades.
However, some results in individual states were suspiciously high.
Mr Jonathan was appointed to the presidency last year, upon the death of incumbent Umaru Yar'Adua, whom he had served as vice-president.
He staked his reputation on the election, repeatedly promising it would be free and fair.
Results so far put Mr Jonathan on track to become the country's first elected president from the Niger Delta.
'99.63%'
To win at the first round, a candidate needs at least 25% of the vote in two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states.
At the scene
Everyone's going to focus on the outcome, but in many regards the real story from this election is the manner in which it has been conducted. In 2007 the level of electoral fraud was one of the worst not just in Nigeria, but in Africa.This time Nigeria seems to have turned the corner. There has been a large turnout, with people queuing in the sun for several hours waiting patiently to vote. That picture was replicated at polling stations around the country, of which there are 120,000.
It hasn't been entirely incident free - there have been reports of violence and some deaths. But on the whole it seems as though Nigerians have handled the democratic process without too many difficulties.
According to regional results, Mr Jonathan has passed that threshold in at least 24 states.
He has polled more than 22m votes, compared with 12m or so for his nearest rival, General Muhammadu Buhari.In Akwa Ibom state, Mr Jonathan was credited with winning 95% and in Anambra it was 99%. In his home state, Bayelsa, he took 99.63%.
"Figures of 95% and above for one party suggest that these are fabricated figures and, personally, they worry me because they pose serious questions on the credibility of the election," Jibrin Ibrahim of the Centre for Democracy and Development told AFP news agency.
A spokesman for the general, Yinka Odumakin, also said irregularities had taken place, but any challenge would come after the vote count.
Explosions
Mr Jonathan's campaign team said they would not publicly comment until the election commission had formally declared all the results in the capital Abuja, an announcement expected later on Monday.
Election Season
- 20 presidential candidates
- 74 million registered voters
- Parliament, president and local elections on three consecutive weekends
- Ruling PDP dominated every vote since end of military rule in 1999
- Previous elections plagued by corruption and violence.
While past polls have been marred by widespread violence and vote-fixing, Saturday's seemed to go generally smoothly.
Voters in many areas queued patiently for hours despite intense heat to cast their votes. The head of the African Union observer team, former Ghanaian President John Kufuor, told the BBC he was satisfied.
"Nigeria hasn't been served too well for decades electorally, but to our pleasant surprise we found the people of Nigeria generally are the security against this," said Mr Kufuor.
"All of them co-operating to give the nation a befitting election."
However, there was violence in parts of the north and officials' homes were burned, amid rigging allegations.
A curfew was imposed on Sunday in Gombe state because of rioting. Unrest was also reported in parts of Adamawa and Bauchi states.
There were several explosions on polling day, including one at a hotel in Kaduna state and another in the Borno state capital of Maiduguri.
Nigeria: A nation divided"
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