Nigeria waits for first results of election marred by irregularities, violent clashes

First results from Nigeria's elections to choose state governors and legislators were scheduled to be announced around midday yesterday, an national electoral commission official said.

"The late commencement of voting in many polling centers led to the delay in the release of results," the official, Philip Umeadi, told reporters.

Saturday's polls were seen as a test for the presidential elections in a week's time to replace President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is ending his second four-year term.

They were held with security forces on high alert across the country's 36 states.

Voting got off to a late start in many parts of the country, with EU observers reporting a string of "worrisome" incidents.

They included violence, under-age voting, a shortage of electoral material and logistical problems.

The presidential elections will be a historic first for Nigeria, the country's first civilian-to-civilian handover of power since independence from Britain in 1960.

Voting on Saturday began hours late in most places and ballot papers failed to turn up at all in some locations in the north, east and southern oil-producing Niger Delta, sparking violent protests and boycotts by the opposition.

Youths protesting against the absence of ballots in the southern Anambra and Delta states torched three offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Eight people were killed in three different states when armed men stormed polling booths to steal ballot boxes, local media reported.

Seven policemen died when their outpost in the southern oil city Port Harcourt was burned down, and three civilians were shot dead by suspected hitmen in nearby Andoni.

Voting in the southeastern hub of Enugu only began in the mid-afternoon, when polling stations were already due to close.

"Many of us have not voted and we have no chance of voting," Senate President Ken Nnamani said on local television. "People believe that the result has already been predetermined."

A coalition of opposition parties warned INEC not to announce results for northeastern Gombe state because of deficient voting.

INEC chairman Maurice Iwu said he was generally satisfied.

"We did not anticipate a 100-percent hitch-free election. One or two infractions would not make the election and its results unacceptable," he said.

Opposition Action Congress spokesman Lai Mohammed said there were "massive irregularities and fraud."

"Soldiers and police have been used to intimidate voters," he said.

Local newspapers estimated yesterday that as many as 50 people had been killed in violence linked to irregularities in Saturday's poll.