Fraud reports mar Nigeria vote

Opposition parties and a Nigerian monitoring group have rejected Saturday's presidential vote, claiming widespread fraud and intimidation.

from the April 23, 2007 edition

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That time surely has not come to Nigeria. Just 50 feet away, a car pulls up to a curb alongside some loitering young men. A whoop goes up as a man gets out of the car with a bag and starts distributing money, telling the huddled men to vote for a certain candidate. Obediently, they join the queue of voters.

International election observers pointed to numerous flaws in the presidential elections, such as the late opening and early closing of polling booths; the lack of ballot papers in some polling stations; and even the lack of serial numbers on ballots, which could allow ballots to be mass-produced and premarked by party activists or corrupt election officials.

The chief European Union election observer, Max van den Berg, told Reuters he was unsure whether there had been any improvement over regional polls last week, which was marred by widespread fraud and the killing of more than 21 people.

"For the moment I am worried," he told Reuters.

But while some voters appeared resigned that their vote meant little for this presidential election, about two dozen voters at Polling Unit 17, nestled in the tin-roofed car park of the Ministry of Agriculture's campus, were growing increasingly agitated when ballot papers ran out at 3:00 p.m. Saturday. They still hadn't cast their votes.

"We are registered at this polling station, so we can't go vote someplace else," says Oromidayo Arikawe. "We requested that they go to another polling booth to get ballot papers, but they say it is finished, and there's nothing we can do about it."

Agitated voters

By 4:00 p.m., local officials for the Independent National Election Commission had still not sent out for more ballot papers, and the crowd of agitated voters was growing larger.

One voter, a middle-aged woman named Lilly, said she had been paid 200 naira (less than $2) to vote for the PDP candidate last week in the governor's race, and she was promised another 200 naira to vote in the presidential race. "They promised me 200 naira, but there aren't ballot papers for me to vote, and the people who promised me the money aren't here," she says. "I should have come earlier."

Many in the teeming commercial capital of Lagos, an opposition stronghold, are tense in anticipation of clashes following the announcement of results Monday evening. Lagos police officers expressed concern to the Monitor about about what might happen when results are announced.

"Obasanjo ... wants a one-party state," says Osita Okechukwu, spokesman for presidential candidate Mohammadu Buhari. "We have already had violence last week, and that will not abate with this election. We in Nigeria are in a state of siege."

Now all eyes are on the government as it decides how to respond to allegations of widespread fraud.

"Indications are the ruling power will remain in power, given the way the election was conducted," says Mr. Dokubo. "Now we have to wait to see how the results are accepted."

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