Prometheus 6   

Another precinct reporting in

What is it with southern states that makes elections so difficult?

From the NY Times
Early Returns in Nigeria Indicate President Will Remain
By SOMINI SENGUPTA

ABUJA, Nigeria, April 20 � Nigeria's president appeared to be in no danger of losing his seat as results from the election on Saturday trickled in to the capital this evening. But his government faced growing rancor in the country's southern oil region, where voters, opposition politicians and some election monitors complained of fraud.

With roughly 20 percent of local government areas reporting this evening, President Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military ruler running under the banner of the governing People's Democratic Party, was capturing 75 percent of the votes. Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Nigeria People's Party, another former military ruler, ran a distant second, with 21 percent. Eighteen other candidates barely registered in the balloting. With 61 million voters, final results are not expected until Tuesday.

Mr. Buhari's party called the results in several southern and eastern states fraudulent, but an Obasanjo campaign aide dismissed the accusations as baseless. Officials with the Independent National Electoral Commission here in the capital vouched for the integrity of the results.

Meanwhile, in one opposition stronghold in Rivers State, gunfights raged in broad daylight between gangs loyal to rival parties.

This could be the first time that this nation, the continent's most populous, moves from one civilian government to another. But the discontent in the oil-rich Niger Delta raised serious questions about whether this exercise � and the government it empowers � will engender confidence among all its citizens.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 4/21/2003 07:24:42 AM |