Nigeria elections fall at first hurdle

Saturday was meant to mark the start of Nigeria’s election cycle and perhaps even a fresh start to its democracy, tainted as it is by a series of fraudulent and violent elections since the end of military rule 12-years ago.

Instead the electoral commission halted proceedings and postponed the elections saying it wasn’t ready.

Some of Nigeria’s 74 million voters had already begun casting their ballots in parts of the country when the parliamentary elections were called off.

Now all three stages of the vote — parliamentary, presidential and state governors — have been pushed back a week and the reputation of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is in tatters after polling officials and results sheets failed to turn up in much of the country.

Until the weekend many observers had been upbeat, praising the newly formed INEC, headed by Professor Attahiru Jega, which replaced the commission that oversaw the shockingly bad elections of 2007. Now — belatedly — questions are being asked of this commission.

These questions will only increase tensions and doubts in a country where corruption and fraud combine with a hugely productive rumor mill to make a combustible political culture.

All the political parties and main candidates have accepted INEC’s postponement of the vote.

With civil war raging in nearby Ivory Coast this region of Africa can scarcely afford yet more uncertainty and instability.