Incumbent declared winner in flawed Nigeria poll
By Tume Ahemba
AWKA, Nigeria (Reuters) - The incumbent governor of Nigeria's southeastern Anambra state was on Sunday declared the winner of an election which voters, candidates and observers said had been marred by widespread irregularities.
The polls on Saturday in one of Nigeria's most politically turbulent states were the first in a cycle of state and federal votes culminating in presidential elections due in April 2011.
Diplomats and investors hope Africa's most populous nation can avoid a repeat of the chaos seen during the 2007 elections which brought President Umaru Yar'Adua to power, polls marred by widespread ballot-stuffing and voter intimidation.
But the signs from Anambra were not promising.
Voters complained their names were not on electoral rolls, while the main candidates -- including the winner, Peter Obi -- complained of irregularities. Some election observers said there seemed to have been a deliberate attempt to exclude many voters.
"Although the age-old inadequacies of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in terms of poor preparation, late arrival of electoral materials et cetera manifested (themselves), they were minimal," Obi was quoted as saying by the Punch newspaper.
He had initially refused to vote on Saturday, saying his own family members were missing from the electoral list and that similar problems were being encountered across the state, but he later returned to the polling station to take part.
Obi won 97,843 votes, beating ex-state governor Chris Ngige of the opposition Action Congress party with 60,240 votes. Continued...