nigeria delays election amid chaos

From Bloomberg yesterday folks;

WC8

Nigeria Delays Elections by a Week After Parliamentary Vote Ends in Chaos

By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo - Apr 4, 2011

Nigeria?s electoral commission is scrambling to prepare for rescheduled parliamentary elections on April 9 after two delays cast doubt on its ability to organize the vote in Africa?s top oil producer.

The Independent National Electoral Commission delayed for two days voting for parliament set for April 2, before announcing yesterday that the entire general election schedule would be pushed back by a week. The presidential ballot will now take place on April 16, with state elections a week later.

The commission decided it couldn?t hold the legislative election as scheduled because of the late arrival of voting materials. President Goodluck Jonathan?s People?s Democratic Party and the biggest opposition party, the Action Congress of Nigeria, supported the decision to reschedule the vote.

?The postponement is certainly an embarrassment? for INEC, Sebastian Boe, an analyst at Global Insight in London, said in a reply to e-mailed questions today. ?The collapse of the first of the three elections this month is acutely embarrassing, not only for the chairman, Attahiru Jega, but for the government of President Jonathan, who had pledged credible elections under his watch.?

Elections in 2003 and 2007 in Africa?s most populous nation were marred by violence, voter intimidation and the stuffing of ballot boxes. More than 50 people have died in election-related violence since July, according to Amnesty International, while sectarian clashes in the north have claimed the lives of at least 200 since Dec. 24.

Voters? Confidence
?It?s an opportunity for INEC to address all the anomalies observed on Saturday and take its time to remobilize for the election,? ACN spokesman Lai Mohammed said by phone.

Some polling stations had opened before they were ordered to close. Governor Tunde Fashola of Lagos state, which includes the West African nation?s commercial capital, said on Lagos TV that he was among those who voted. Today he described the original proposal to delay the vote by 48 hours as ?probably not well thought out.?

?People?s confidence to come out and vote may have been shaken by these two postponements,? Clement Nwankwo, executive director of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, which is monitoring the electoral process, said by phone yesterday.

The parliamentary vote is for 109 Senate seats and 360 seats in the House of Representatives. The main opposition parties, Action Congress of Nigeria and the Congress for Progressive Change, aim to cut the majority the People?s Democratic Party won in both houses four years ago by saying it failed to reduce poverty, corruption and violence.

Presidential Contest
The vote is a prelude to the presidential contest that pits Jonathan against 18 rivals, including former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari and the ex-head of the anti-graft agency, Nuhu Ribadu, of the ACN.

Nigeria is the fifth-largest source of U.S. oil imports. Hague-based Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Chevron Corp. (CVX) of San Ramon, California, Total SA (FP) of France and Italy?s Eni SpA (ENI) run joint ventures with the state- owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. that pump more than 90 percent of the West African nation?s oil.

?A successful election means so much for us in terms of the image of our country, in terms of the economic opportunities that it brings because once we get this election right, we are telling the world that politically our country is stable,? Fashola said in an e-mailed statement.

To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at [email protected].

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at [email protected].