Turnout High as Nigeria Takes First Step Toward Democracy

This country’s electoral commission reported a high turnout in local voting Saturday that marked the first step in the military regime’s plan to restore democracy to the most populous nation in Africa.

Polling unfolded peacefully across most of the country, but up to 10 people were reported killed in incidents in the oil-producing Niger Delta--six people southwest of Warri and four in the notoriously volatile Nembe district.

First results are expected today from the elections, a crucial test for nine competing parties and a vote of confidence in Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar’s plan to step down in May and end the nation’s 15 years of military rule.

“The turnout is quite impressive. We are bound to have hitches here and there, but this will help us to avert future problems,” Ephraim Akpata, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, told reporters Saturday after a tour of polling stations.

Official turnout figures were not immediately available. But public enthusiasm was clearly greater than for elections held under dictator Sani Abacha, whose discredited democracy plan was aborted by his sudden death in June.

A few dozen foreign observers watched the vote--among them a delegation from the Commonwealth that is composed of Britain and former colonies and that suspended Nigeria’s membership in 1995 after the government executed nine minority rights activists.

Securing a big vote with broad national distribution is vital for the nine parties contesting posts in Nigeria’s 774 local government councils. Only those winning 5% in two-thirds of the 36 states will be eligible for next year’s parliamentary and presidential elections.

The Alliance for Democracy is expected to do well in the southwest, which has felt cheated since the 1993 presidential elections were annulled as local tycoon Moshood Abiola was poised to win. Abiola died while still in detention in July.