Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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April 23, 2007

Nigerian Ruling Party Candidate Declared Winner of Presidential
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Election
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=172DA45:A6F02AD83191E1601AE41E239F15F64B9574F7DCC14957C0 Electoral
officials say Umaru Yar'Adua won vote that many called flawed
Nigeria's electoral commission has declared ruling party candidate
Umaru Yar'Adua the winner of the country's presidential
elections.Local and international observers say the elections Saturday
were deeply flawed. Witnesses reported cases of police intimidation,
ballot box stuffing, and polls failing to open.Earlier today, the
European Union's observer team said the election process was "not
credible." On Sunday, a Nigerian election observer group (Transition
Monitoring Group) called for the election to be re-run.Two main
opposition candidates charge that the election was marred by
widespread irregularities. One of the candidates, Vice President Atiku
Abubakar, describes the election as the worst that Nigeria has ever
held, and he called for the vote to be annulled. Journalists also
reported cases of blatant vote-rigging in favor of the ruling People's
Democratic Party candidate, (Katsina State Governor) Umaru
Yar'Adua.Electoral Commission Chairman Maurice Iwu acknowledged some
problems with the vote, but he said the commission performed
creditably well, given the circumstances. The presidential election is
meant to bring about the first handover from one civilian leader to
another since Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960. Voters
also cast ballots Saturday to fill 300 seats in the federal
legislature.Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is due to step down
next month after serving two four-year terms.


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