The presidential election, which is scheduled to hold on February 16, 2019, may take five days to collate and announce its result
Multiple sources within the Independent National Electoral Commission told our correspondent that they envisaged three to four days because of the large number of candidates, which now stands at 73, as well as the number of registered voters, which is about 84 million.
In 2003, when 20 political parties contested, the presidential election held on April 19, while the result was announced on April 22, three days after.
In 2007, when 18 parties contested, the presidential poll was conducted on April 21, while the outcome was announced on April 23, two days after.
The presidential election of 2011 saw 20 parties contesting for the highest political office in the country. It held on April 16, while the result was announced on April 18.
Fourteen candidates contested the presidential election in 2015, while the number of persons who voted was less than 30 million out of 68 million registered voters.
The 2015 presidential election, which began on March 28, continued into the afternoon of March 29, while the outcome of the poll was announced in the evening of April 1, 2015.
However, a senior INEC official told our correspondent that it might take five days to collate and announce the results from the over 120,000 polling units across the count.