Abuja, 6 May-(ANA)-Nigeria's governing People's Democratic Party (PDP) has narrowly won a disputed re-run election for the post of governor in south-western Ekiti state.
Turnout was said to be low, amid tight security. An earlier re-run of the vote last week crumbled amid claims of fraud, violence and intimidation.
Furious opposition leaders cried foul and vowed to challenge the result in a state they regard as a stronghold.
The original poll two years ago was won by the candidate of the governing PDP.
But Segun Oni was thrown out of office and the result overturned as it became mired in allegations of mass vote fraud.
Heavily-armed police and soldiers were out in force in the state capital of Oye Ekiti, where Tuesday's vote took place.
Correspondents say opposition supporters were enraged as the electoral commissioner declared victory for the PDP by a slender margin of 4,000 votes.
Several dozen men in the crowded hall shouted the commissioner down.
Opposition Action Congress governorship candidate Kayode Fayemi said later the result was a "travesty" and his party would challenge it in court.
"Our ballot boxes were snatched in daylight, our monitors were beaten up," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
Both parties have traded accusations of hiring thugs to intimidate people, bribing election officials and rigging votes.
The electoral commissioner was supposed to announce poll results last week after the initial re-run but refused to do so, alleging fraud, and temporarily went into hiding.
Her actions sparked angry demonstrations, involving women marching half-naked in the streets in anger.
The poll was seen as strategically important for both parties.
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has said the situation in Ekiti underlines the need for urgent reform of Nigeria's election system, with the country's next general elections looming in 2011. (ANA)
UK/Coffee