Nigeria is currently in the phase between state elections (last Saturday) and national presidential and legislative elections (Saturday, 21 April). The two main opposition candidates–one of whom was cleared by the Supreme Court to run only this week–have both announced that they will not boycott, despite irregularities in the state elections.
The Nigerian presidency is elected by an interesting rule: Nationwide plurality with distribution. In addition to a nationwide plurality, to be elected president of Nigeria a candidate must have obtained a minimum of 25% of the votes in at least two thirds of the subnational units of the federation (there are 36 states and a capital territory).
With a divided opposition, the distribution requirement will not come in to play in this election. At the bottom of today’s article on the decision by the opposition candidates to remain in the race, BBC has a map of the state results. The ruling party has won pluralities in more than three quarters of the states.
