Nigeria poll mired in controversy

BBC ^ | Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 01:00 GMT 02:00 UK | Alex Last

[onja]

It was no great surprise that Umaru Yar'Adua was declared the winner of Nigeria's presidential election.

He is the governing party candidate. The electoral commission said he won by a landslide - leaving the opposition leader, Muhammadu Buhari, with just 18% of the vote.

But the election is mired in controversy.

Polling stations opened late or not at all, there was a shortage of ballots, and then in many places there was violence and vote-rigging.

Turnout was low. The government and the electoral commission say it was a success, but there has been a barrage of criticism.

The opposition says it was a charade. So too do Nigerian and international election observers.

"These elections have not lived up to the hopes and expectations of the Nigerian people and the process cannot be considered to have been credible," said chief EU observer Max van den Berg.

[onja]

I was amazed that no one else has posted on this watershed Nigerian election. This will be the first peaceful transfer in Nigeria from one civilian government to another. Also it represents the corruption and 3rd worldness that Nigeria still has. The new president is, as typically, a Northern Muslim who has graciously promised to not impose mandatory sharia law on everyone.

[onja]

BTW- Poll means the official vote. Yes, the British are weird.

[Eccl 10:2]

Reason # 48,127 to put together a “Manhattan Project” for our energy needs.

[sageb1]

Actually someone has posted a few articles. I’m too tired to find them right now.

“There’s nothing that human beings do that is perfect. Only the book of God is perfect,” said Yar’Adua, who is Muslim.

[sageb1]

Here’s one

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1821317/posts

Truck Bomb Fails to Derail Nigerian Vote
AP ^ | 4/21/07 | EDWARD HARRIS

Posted on 04/21/2007 12:17:50 PM PDT by Valin

[Triggerhippie]

I don’t know about their politics, but I was able to help their Finance Minister out of a jam...

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Africa pinglist.

[onja]

Oh, yeah, I just found a couple. I should have searched for more variations of Nigeria. Oh well... Still, haven’t really seen a thread focused on the corruption involved.