Electoral fraud claims persist in Nigeria

NIGERIA: Nigeria's ruling party presidential candidate, Umaru Yar'Adua, has been declared the winner of the weekend's fraud-…

NIGERIA:Nigeria's ruling party presidential candidate, Umaru Yar'Adua, has been declared the winner of the weekend's fraud-tainted election which the European Union has described as "not credible" and Washington has called "deeply troubling".

Outgoing president Olusegun Obasanjo acknowledged fraud and other electoral "lapses" but said the result reflected opinion polls. In a national television address, he added that if Nigerians did not like the victory of his hand-picked successor, they would have an opportunity to vote again in four years.

Final results gave 24.6 million votes to Mr Yar'Adua (56), the Muslim governor of northern Katsina state. His nearest rival, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, received 6.6 million votes and the outgoing vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, won 2.6 million.

Opposition leaders called for a rerun after international and Nigerian monitors said there had been blatant ballot-box stuffing, a shortage of voting papers in opposition areas and violence.

They said they would call their supporters onto the streets and launch a legal challenge that could delay Mr Yar'Adua's swearing-in at the end of next month.

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Mr Yar'Adua said he felt "humbled" by his victory and dismissed claims he had won through fraud. He attributed his win to hard work by his party, and to God.

The credibility of the ballot was further questioned as it emerged that Mr Yar'Adua won key states on the back of an exceptionally large turnout that election monitors say they did not witness.

The head of the EU's observer mission, Max van den Berg, said in a statement that he could not endorse the vote as legitimate. "These elections have not lived up to the hopes and expectations of the Nigerian people and the process cannot be considered to have been credible," he said.

The US state department said the elections were flawed, "and in some cases deeply flawed", but said it was not calling for a rerun.

Mr Obasanjo acknowledged shortcomings, but he said they had not had a significant impact on the outcome and he advised those who felt aggrieved to use the constitutional legal process to challenge the outcome.

Maurice Iwu, head of the national election commission, said the ballot had "not gone without difficulties" and that it was "far from perfect" but blamed logistical difficulties. He said overall, the elections were "free and fair and credible". Much of the Nigerian press has strongly criticised the election, calling it fraudulent and a "rape of democracy".

Mr Yar'Adua was always going to face a struggle to assert himself as independent of Mr Obasanjo, who dominated the ruling party's campaign and will remain PDP leader after stepping down.

The integrity of the result was further questioned once voting patterns became clear. In Rivers state, Mr Yar'Adua won 1.8 million votes against a combined total of just 109,000 for the two main opposition candidates. The electoral commission said there was an 81 per cent turnout.

In nearby Delta state, Mr Yar'Adua received 1.2 million votes to 42,000 for the opposition.

Election monitors meanwhile said they had spoken to young men who had been paid to mark thousands of ballots for the PDP. - (Guardian service)