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Ruling Party Candidate Declared Winner in Violent Nigerian Election; EU Calls the Elections “Not Credible”
23 April 2007 |  Printer Friendly
BBC News has announced that ruling party candidate Umaru Yar’Adua has won the Nigerian presidential election held on April 21st. Yar’Adua received 24.6 million votes, followed by Muhammadu Buhari (6.6 million) and Vice President Atiku Abubakar (2.6 million). According to the Washington Post, Yar’Adua is seen as incumbent President Obasanjo’s “hand picked successor,” who will “inherit” the president’s “extensive political machinery.”
According to Reuters, the European Union said the Nigerian elections “…had fallen far short of basic international standards and were not credible.” The EU declared that the elections were “marred by violence, poor organization, lack of transparency, widespread irregularities, significant fraud, voter disenfranchisement and bias…” BBC News is reporting that at least 200 people died in election-related violence in the past week. The New York Times also reports that former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright, observing the elections on behalf of the National Democratic Institute (click here for NDI's statement on the elections), said the “…electoral process failed the Nigerian people.” The International Republican Institute also said “the election fell below acceptable standards.”
Despite international condemnation of the elections, BBC News reports that Nigerian election commissioner Maurice Iqu called the election “a success thtat would be remembered for generations.” Independent Nigerian election monitor, the Transition Monitoring Group, has countered the official statement of the Nigerian government saying “the presidential poll was so flawed that it should be scrapped and held again.”
The Reuters report says the new government will take power in May 29th. The same report says President Obasanjo has “appealed to any aggrieved parties to use legal avenues to seek redress over the next give weeks (until the handover over power)…”
For more information on the elections, see:
Sources:
BBC News: 'Flawed' Nigeria poll results due
BBC News: Yar'Adua named new Nigeria leader
New York Times: Africa’s Crisis of Democracy
Reuters: Nigerian election not credible - EU observers
Reuters: Nigerians must keep faith in democracy - Obasanjo
Washington Post: As Vote for New President Nears, Democracy Disappoints Nigerians
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