I don't know if Obasanjo really stole this election but this event makes me
fear what can happen in Gambia in 2006.

Ousman


NIGERIAN OPPOSITION SEEKS RE-RUN

Nigeria's main opposition parties have called on the international community
not to recognise the results of Saturday's elections.

Defeated presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari also insisted that
elections be re-run within a few weeks.

Mr Obasanjo's sweeping victory was announced by the electoral commission on
Tuesday evening after long delays - 24.5 million votes for Mr Obasanjo
against 12.7 million for his main rival, Muhammadu Buhari.

But reports from election monitors alleging widespread fraud and
intimidation in several states across the country.

Speaking at a joint news conference after meeting other opposition parties
in the capital, Abuja, Mr Buhari called the results the "rape of democracy"
and "the most rigged in history", but he held back from calling for
immediate mass action, as he had earlier threatened.

He said his party would take "all legal and constitutional action to redress
the crime" and made clear he epected President Obasanjo not to be in office
after his first term expires on 29 May.


We hope that new elections can be held in the next few weeks
Muhammadu Buhari

Saturday's presidential election was the first to be run by civilians for 20
years and was presented as a milestone in the country's return to democracy
after years of military rule.
But tensions have been high since the poll, and as a precaution there is
increased security in some cities.

The electoral commission says any challenge must be made through the correct
legal channels.


Anger

As incumbent Mr Obasanjo - a Christian and former military ruler - had long
been considered the favourite to win the polls, but Mr Buhari, a Muslim, and
another former military ruler, had strong support in the largely Islamic
north.



I am delighted to say that electorally, Nigeria has come of age
Olusegun Obasanjo

In his victory speech, Mr Obasanjo brushed off the accusations of fraud.

"Good politicians should be good sportsmen, showing magnanimity and humility
in victory and gallantry and good naturedness in defeat," he said.

"The people of Nigeria have voted for one united, harmonious Nigeria and no
leader should deny them their hearts' desire.

"I am delighted to say that electorally, Nigeria has come of age."

Observers verdict

Most foreign observers praised the organisation of the elections across much
of the country, but criticised polls in the south and east - especially in
the oil-rich Niger Delta.


Nigeria election results

A monitoring team from the EU gave a particularly negative assessment saying
their observers "witnessed and obtained evidence of widespread election
fraud in 13 states".

"The presidential and a number of gubernatorial elections were marred by
serious irregularities and fraud - in a certain number of states, minimum
standards for democratic elections were not met," the group said in a
statement.

The head of the EU mission, Max van den Berg, said that if these problems
are not addressed, Nigerian democracy is in trouble.

Commonwealth observers gave a more positive assessment saying: "In most of
Nigeria a genuine and largely successful effort was made to enable the
people to vote freely".

But they added that in some states like Enugu and Rivers State "proper
electoral processes appear to have broken down and there was intimidation".

In Washington, the State Department talked of "widespread and often
credible" reports of electoral malpractice.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/2969593.stm

Published: 2003/04/23 15:19:01

© BBC MMIII






_________________________________________________________________
Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*.
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~