Teaching Comparative

From Nigeria, 24 April 2007

The reports from Nigeria are disturbingly like those that accompanied the end of the first republic.

I found this paragraph in the Library of Congress Country Studies description of the collapse of that first republic:

"By the time of the 1964 general elections, the first to be conducted solely by Nigerians, the country's politics had become polarized into a competition between two opposing alliances... Each of the regional parties openly intimidated its opponents in the campaigns. When it became clear that the neutrality of the Federal Electoral Commission could not be guaranteed, calls were made for the army to supervise the elections... When elections were finally held under conditions that were not free... the NCNC was returned to power in the east and midwest, while the NPC kept control of the north and was also in a position to form a federal government on its own. The Western Region became the "theater of war"... The rescheduled regional elections late in 1965 were violent. The federal government refused to declare a state of emergency, and the military seized power on January 15, 1966. The First Republic had collapsed."

Today's report comes from the New York Times:
Governing Party Wins in Nigeria, but Many Claim Fraud

"The governing party’s candidate for president, Umaru Yar’Adua, easily won the election in Nigeria, election officials here announced Monday. But his chief rivals for the office immediately rejected the results, and international observers said that the voting, which took place amid chaos, fraud and violence, was not credible.

"The announcement sets the stage for a volatile period as Nigeria... tries to hand power for the first time from one elected civilian government to another and seal its transition to democracy.

"The violence, ballot stuffing and disarray that surrounded the voting have already marred that transition, and unrest after the announcement of Mr. Yar’Adua’s victory could scuttle it altogether...

"Max van den Berg, chief observer for the European Union mission, said at a news conference that the elections 'have fallen far short of basic international and regional standard for elections.'

"The process, he concluded, 'cannot be considered to have been credible.'

"Observers from the National Democratic Institute, a pro-democracy organization that monitors elections worldwide, concluded that, 'the 2007 polls represent a step backward in the conduct of elections in Nigeria.'...

"As election observers issued their preliminary reports on Monday on the presidential and state voting, a grim picture emerged of mass rigging, incompetence by election officials, delay and intimidation.

"European Union observers said they witnessed instances of ballot-box theft, long delays in the delivery of ballots and other materials, and a shortage of ballots for the presidential race. In half of the polling stations their teams visited, there was no privacy for voters to mark their ballots in secret. Observers also witnessed unused ballots being marked and stuffed into ballot boxes..."

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Labels: elections, history, Nigeria

posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:27 AM