Lagos, March 31 (IANS): Muhamadu Buhari, nominee of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) political party, is leading the Nigerian presidential election by two million votes over incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, after 51 percent of the votes have been counted.

So far, Buhari has garnered 8.5 million votes, while Jonathan got 6.5 million due to the low turnout in southern Christian states such as Imo and Abia, two of his major electoral bases, Efe news agency reported.

The Independent Electoral Commission of Nigeria (INEC) delayed the announcement of the results on Monday night after having counted the ballots of only 18 states, half of the total electorate, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where the capital city of Abuja is located.

The INEC is set to announce official results of the presidential elections on Tuesday.

Although Jonathan took a slight advantage initially, Buhari managed to take the lead by two million votes after winning several key states.

According to Nigerian electoral law, the winning candidate should get at least 51 percent of the popular vote, and at least 25 percent within 24 of the 36 states.