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Nigeria: Concern over fraud
23/04/2007 07:23 - (SA)
Abuja - Nigeria on Monday awaited results of historic elections to take over from President Olusegun Obasanjo and choose a new parliament, amid mounting international concern over ballot chaos and fraud.
As officials tallied votes, the conduct of the poll marking the first peaceful civilian-to-civilian handover since independence in 1960 in Africa's most populous nation came under increasing criticism by observer missions, Western and African alike.
With all eyes on stability in the world's sixth oil exporter, electoral commission chief Maurice Iwu insisted the Saturday polls were successful, free and fair.
But in the face of widespread electoral mayhem and calls from the opposition for a re-run, the German presidency of the European Union criticised "irregularities" and an observer team from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) dubbed the polls merely "fairly acceptable" rather than free and fair.
"Incidents have given rise to concerns that not all Nigerians entitled to vote really were able to do so freely and without fear," the EU said.
Ballot papers were delivered late to the country's 120 000 polling stations, with some Nigerians unable to cast their votes at all, and others only late in the day.
And printing errors on some of the 65 million ballots forced a last-minute cancellation of parliamentary and senatorial elections in parts of the country. A Commonwealth observer team noted "significant shortcomings" and the US-based International Republican Institute said the poll fell below even the standards of Nigerian elections in 2003 and in 1999, won by Obasanjo.
'I have already rejected the elections'
Citing chaos and fraud, one of the three leading contenders in the presidential race, vice president Atiku Abubakar, called on Sunday for new polls.
"I have already rejected the elections," he said. "They have no alternative other than to cancel them altogether." Abubakar, a friend-turned-foe of Obasanjo's, defected from the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) to run for the opposition Action Congress.
Most results are expected late on Monday, and the electoral commission (INEC), which was the target of a failed truck-bomb hours before the vote, has so far been unable to indicate turnout.
As counting continues, Nigeria's largest local observer body, the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), is also threatening to request cancellation of the poll.
A re-run would be a tall order in view of the logistical challenge of organising elections in a country with 140 million people and a track record of rigging elections. Voter registration alone took several months.
Saturday's ballot-box confusion was partly caused by an 11th-hour supreme court decision only last week to allow Action Congress candidate Abubakar, who is facing corruption allegations, to run in the election, overruling his disqualification by the election commission.
That left the electoral commission faced with the mammoth task of reprinting ballots overseas for 61.5 million eligible voters and getting them to 120 000 polling booths in time for a 09:00 GMT start.
According to figures compiled by AFP at least 39 people have died in election-related violence alone in the past eight days. About the same number again were killed in religious violence in the north of the country during the same period.
Late on Sunday, the electoral commission announced results for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the geographical entity surrounding the capital Abuja. They showed the opposition ANPP in the lead, followed by the PDP.
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