Nigeria Again Delays Elections

Amid political wrangling and fears of violence, President Olusegun Obasanjo said Saturday that nationwide municipal elections set for next weekend would be postponed for the second time in six months.

The vote, which would be the first election since military rule ended in 1999, had originally been scheduled for April. No new date has been set.

Speaking on a radio call-in show, Obasanjo gave few reasons for postponing the balloting, saying only that authorities in Nigeria’s 36 states agreed that electoral officials were unprepared and electoral lists were not ready.

“The governors have decided by consensus that Aug. 10 is not a realistic date,” Obasanjo said. “Preparations are not complete.”

The postponement marks a major setback for the democratic process in oil-producing Nigeria, a country of 126 million that has not managed a successful transition between elected governments since independence from Britain in 1960.

The delay could also affect presidential, national and gubernatorial elections early next year.

Any election would take place against a background of Nigeria’s worst cycle of violence in decades.

An estimated 10,000 people have died in three years. Obasanjo’s victory in 1999 ended 15 years of military dictatorship but released an outpouring of long-suppressed grievances, leading to bloody outbreaks of ethnic and religious clashes across the country.

Political unrest has surged since Obasanjo declared his reelection bid in April, and the president has expressed fears that violence nationwide could derail the municipal voting. Local leadership tussles within Obasanjo’s ruling People’s Democratic Party have been marred by violence between rival factions.

Some parties have complained of being excluded from the upcoming vote, and electoral officials repeatedly have delayed compiling voter lists.

A national appeals court last week opened the door for dozens of new unregistered parties to vote after ruling that Nigeria’s electoral commission had used illegal criteria to disqualify them.