Brussels, 24/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - Preliminary conclusions of EU electoral observer mission in Nigeria casts doubt over the validity of election results from 19 April - Presidential elections, which saw a return to power for the incumbent President Olusegun Obassanjo, and that the governors in this federal state.
According to these initial conclusions, the elections have been marred by serious irregularities throughout the country and cases of fraud in at least 11 states. A quarter of the observers have been direct witnesses of one or several cases of electoral fraud, and attempts at fraud, incidents that undermine the integrity of the electoral process.
The MEP Max van den Berg (Dutch, Socialist) who lead the observer mission formed of 113 observers deployed in 31 states, angrily confirmed, on Wednesday to his colleagues in the European Parliament's development committee.
Among the fraud observed he notably cited the fraudulent stuffing of ballot boxes and the modification of results, mainly in the states of the country's South-East (but problems where also seen in the North of the country). Throughout the territory, the late opening of voting offices, the absence of vote confidentiality, and important problems for registering electors have been reported.
Karin Juncker (German, Social Democrat), observer in the South-East of the country where, in comparison, the election unfolded without trouble for the voters, as well as the trend for some illiterate voters of being 'helped' by party agents present.
Reporting an argument put forward by President Obassanjo, according to which these problems are linked to under-development, Max van den Berg felt that given the fraud, some Nigerians seem, on the contrary, to have shown great understanding of electoral manipulation.
More advanced investigation will allow the EU electoral mission to establish definitive conclusions, at a future date.