Nigeria postponed yesterday’s parliamentary polls hours after they were to begin amid widespread organizational problems, an ominous start to a crucial voting period in Africa’s most populous nation.
The parliament vote, now set for today, was to be the first of three landmark polls this month seen as a critical test of whether Nigeria can organize a credible ballot after a series of flawed and violent elections.
Nigerian Electoral Commission chairman Attahiru Jega announced the postponement at about midday, calling it an “emergency.”
Materials and personnel had not arrived at many polling stations throughout the country, leading Jega to call the delay, which drew harsh criticism from rights activists and politicians, as well as anger from voters.
Jega said a vendor scheduled to deliver material failed to do so on time. The vendor had blamed disruptions in air transport due in part to the emergency in Japan, Jega told journalists.
The recently installed electoral commission headed by Jega, a respected academic, had raised hopes that the vote would be better conducted this time.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has repeatedly promised a free and fair election.
Presidential elections are scheduled to follow the parliamentary ballot on Saturday, while governorship and state assembly polls are due a week on Saturday in Africa’s largest oil producer.
Jonathan, the favorite in this Saturday’s vote, said he regretted the postponement, but asked for patience to allow for a credible poll. The polling station in his home state of Bayelsa was among those that did not function.
“If we must do something, it is better to delay and do it well,” Jonathan said in a statement.
Rights activists and politicians called the postponement a national disgrace, while some suggested there had been sabotage.
Others questioned why Jega signaled in an address to the nation on Friday that preparations were on course.
The head of observers from the Commonwealth, former Botswana president Festus Mogae, said in a statement “we are naturally very disappointed” and called for calm.
While polling stations opened on time in some areas of the country, materials had not even arrived in many others.
The postponement drew anger from voters, many of whom had been waiting outside polling stations since early in the morning.
At one polling station in Lagos, voting was still going on after the postponement was announced since electoral workers there had not yet been informed.
“Jega is already a failure,” said Musa Goji, a carpenter in the central city of Jos, where crowds of people waited for polling stations to open, marking their spots with everything from beer cans to mangoes.
“He should cover his face in shame and not lie to us,” he added.
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