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