IRI, Nigerian Candidates Reject Election Results

by Jordan Yerman | April 22, 2007 at 11:55 am

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UPDATE: this just in via email from egoigwe:

[q
url="http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL22729833.html"]Nigeria's
presidential and regional elections fell below international standards
and levels set in previous polls in the country, a U.S.-based
monitoring group said on Sunday.

"Nigeria's April 14 and April 21 elections fall below the standards
set by previous Nigerian elections and international standards
witnessed by IRI around the globe," the International Republican
Institute, a pro-democracy group which monitored the vote, said in a
statement.

Pierre Richard Prosper, one of the leaders of the IRI monitors, told
a news conference in Abuja: "The system failed the Nigerian people and
suffers from a lack of credibility."

Both the April 14 election for state governors and Saturday's vote
for the first handover from one civilian president to another, were
marred by violence and widespread reports of rigging.

"The system as designed did not work. Many people were denied the
opportunity to vote. The Nigerian people were failed by their leaders,"
Prosper said.[/q]

Nigeria's election commissioner seems to be the only one praising yesterday's poll, as the candidates themselves begin to publicly denounce the process.

The two main opposition candidates in Nigeria's presidential election have said they will not accept the results of Saturday's poll.

The Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, and General Muhammadu Buhari, said the governing People's Democratic Party (PDP) had rigged the elections.

Of the three states announced so far, the PDP's Umaru Yar'Adua won two Niger Delta states, Rivers and Akwa Ibom.

Mr Abubakar's Action Congress party has won in Lagos state.

Twenty-four candidates are hoping to succeed President Olusegun Obasanjo as Africa's most populous nation seeks for the first time to replace one elected civilian head with another.

NIGERIAN ELECTION

60m registered voters

120,000 ballot boxes

360 House of Representative seats to be elected

109 Senate seats to be elected

24 presidential candidates

# Main contenders: Atiku Abubakar for the AC, 60-years-old

# Muhammadu Buhari, ANPP, 64

# Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, PDP, 55

To avoid a run-off, a candidate needs highest number of votes overall and at least 25% of votes in 24 of the 36 states

Candidates' profiles

Nigeria's biggest election monitoring group said the presidential poll was so flawed that it should be scrapped and held again.

"In many parts of the country elections did not start on time or did not start at all," said Transition Monitoring Group chief Innocent Chukwuma.