Nigeria: Boko Haram failed to disrupt Nigeria elections: UN | AFP

Boko Haram was unable to disrupt elections in Nigeria but its allegiance to Islamic State shows the group has an agenda that reaches well beyond Africa’s most populous country, a UN envoy said Monday. Mohammad ibn Chambas, the UN envoy for West Africa, told the Security Council that while Boko Haram fighters staged attacks on election day in Bauchi state, northeast Nigeria, “they didn’t have an impact on the voting process. Boko Haram was unable to disrupt the electoral process,” he told the 15-member council.

Nigeria: Elections in the Season of Fear | allAfrica.com

On Saturday (March 28, 2015), Nigerians will once again troop to the polls to choose who among the several contestants vigorously campaigning and scheming out there would be their president and members of the Senate and House of Representatives for the next four years. In several other countries, including even some of our smaller and leanly-endowed neighbours here, election periods usually provide the populace pleasant opportunities to savour the excitement of democracy. People go to the polls with beaming faces exchanging pleasantries and banters while waiting to cast their votes. They are not gripped by any benumbing fear that some daredevil thugs might swoop on the voting centres to shoot into the air, snatch away ballot boxes, and, possibly, wound or even kill some people in the process. Even the contestants would just come to the voting centres with little or no security and without any fanfare, unobtrusively cast their votes like every other person. And as they return to their homes, they are not looking over their shoulders to see if some killers hired by their opponents are trailing them to eliminate them.

Nigeria: Court bars military from deploying around polling stations | Reuters

The Nigerian federal high court in Lagos has barred the military from deploying around polling stations during March 28 national elections, the lawyer for the parliamentarian who brought the case said on Tuesday. Opposition leader Femi Gbajabiamila argued a deployment would violate the constitution, lawyer Ijeoma Njemanze said, amid opposition fears that soldiers may intimidate voters or tamper with ballot boxes. The ruling, made on Monday by Justice Ibrahim Buba, does not affect troops already dispatched to northeast Nigeria, where Islamists have waged a six-year insurgency, she added.

Nigeria: Braced for tense election countdown | Deutsche Welle

Africa’s biggest economy and oil producer – stepped up security in its capital Abuja on Monday, deploying soldiers and putting up barricades before Saturday’s election. DW’s correspondent in Abuja, Ben Shemang, said soldiers, police and even plainclothes security operatives were to be seen at the barricades. “Sometimes they do stop-and-search,” he said. A spokesman for President Goodluck Jonathan’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the government “needs to give citizens a sense of protection.” But political analyst Anselm Okolo told the German news agency dpa there was no reason for the deployment of soldiers “other than intimidation of opponents of President Jonathan.”

Nigeria: Nigerians Relocate to Avoid Possible Election Violence | VoA News

In northeast Nigeria, insurgent group Boko Haram group has distributed leaflets warning people to boycott the March 28 nationwide elections. But that is not the only threat to security, People are moving their families away from sites of possible tension around the country and are preparing for unrest once results are announced. From the Niger Delta to far northeast, the pre-election period has become a time of migration for some Nigerians. VOA met several on the streets of Kaduna. “My wife has been pestering me for the past three months,” said a man. “Even today, she called me to say ‘Are we ready to move to a safer ground?’” “Nobody wants to die for nothing. I myself, I am planning to relocate to the southern part of Kaduna where I will not be hearing sounds of war, drums of crisis, burning of tires and teargas, and all those kind of things,” said a woman.

Nigeria: Election Delay Brings Disappointment, Criticism | VoA News

There is mixed reaction to the six-week postponement of Nigeria’s presidential and parliamentary elections. The vote was delayed by the nation’s Independent National Electoral Commission, primarily because of security concerns in northeastern Nigeria. INEC Chairman Atthiru Jega announced the change a week ago, saying the elections would be held March 28. President Goodluck Jonathan appeared on television to express his disappointment about the postponement but noted that the war against Boko Haram in the northeast was intensifying. Adebowale Adefuye, Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States, said Wednesday on VOA’s “Straight Talk Africa” that he was confident the election would be aboveboard and honest.

Congo: Presidential election set for November 27, 2016 – commission | Reuters

Democratic Republic of Congo’s election commission has set Nov. 27, 2016, for presidential and legislative elections, an election official said on Thursday, satisfying a key demand of the political opposition and international donors. President Joseph Kabila, who has held power since his father’s assassination in 2001 and won disputed elections in 2006 and 2011, is constitutionally barred from standing for a third term. But critics say he intends to cling to power beyond the end of his mandate next year. Kabila has refused to comment on his future, saying it is a distraction from his political agenda. A government spokesman has said that the president intends to respect the constitution.

Nigeria: Authorities under fire over vote delay | AFP

Nigerian authorities came under fire on Sunday over the decision to postpone national elections in the face of relentless Boko Haram violence, with the opposition branding the move a “major setback for democracy”. Nigeria’s electoral commission announced over the weekend that the presidential and parliamentary polls would be postponed from February 14 to March 28. The announcement came after weeks of near-daily attacks by the insurgents in the north-east, which had threatened the safety of the vote. But some observers charged that the political woes of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan — who faces a stiff challenge in his re-election bid against ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari — were the real reason for the delay.

Nigeria: Nigeria to postpone elections to fight Boko Haram | The Guardian

Nigeria’s electoral commission will postpone next Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections for six weeks to give a new multinational force time to secure north-eastern areas under the sway of Boko Haram, an official close to the commission told the Associated Press on Saturday. Millions could be disenfranchised if the voting went ahead while the Islamic extremists hold a large swath of the north-east and commit mayhem that has driven 1.5 million people from their homes. Civil rights groups opposed to any postponement started a small protest on Saturday. Police prevented them from entering the electoral commission headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. Armed police began deploying to block roads leading to the building. The Nigerian official, who is knowledgeable of the discussions, said the Independent National Electoral Commission would announce the postponement later on Saturday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Nigeria: Election postponement gets mixed reaction | BBC News

“Nigerians Shocked!” proclaimed one headline reporting that presidential elections due to take place next Saturday had been delayed for six weeks. It was certainly a topic for discussion as people headed to church on Sunday in Lagos, the country’s commercial capital and a city where the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari has much support. The electoral commission said they were postponing elections by six weeks because troops needed to protect polling stations were occupied fighting Boko Haram militants. But reaction seems to have split along party lines, and many here saw the delay as a ploy to give the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) an opportunity to gain ground in the campaign. The news did not dampen electioneering, however, with APC youths chanting “change, change, change” as they headed for an afternoon rally in Ikoyi. Sweeping the road symbolically with brushes, they were vocal about their suspicions.

Nigeria: Boko Haram Massacres Civilians, Burns Down Mosque In Cameroon Days Before Nigeria Presidential Election | International Business Times

Members of the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram massacred civilians and burned a mosque in the Cameroonian town of Fotokol Wednesday, residents said. The assault came hours after neighboring Chad sent troops who allegedly killed more than 200 Boko Haram fighters in the Nigerian town of Gamboru, located just 500 yards from Fotokol. Boko Haram extremists who escaped the fighting in Gamboru crossed over to Fotokol, where they targeted civilians. The fighters slit the throats of several townspeople and torched Fotokol’s primary mosque, multiple accounts said. At least 10 people were killed in the attack, according to one report. “Boko Haram inflicted so much damage here this morning. They have killed dozens of people,” Fotokol resident Umar Babakalli told Agence France-Presse in a phone interview. “They burnt houses and killed civilians as well as soldiers,” a source familiar with local security forces said.

Nigeria: Presidential election postponed to March 28 | Reuters

Nigeria’s electoral commission has said it is postponing the Feb. 14 presidential election until March 28 due to security concerns, caving in to pressure from the ruling People’s Democratic Party in a move likely to enrage the opposition. Foreign powers are closely observing how elections will be held in Africa’s biggest economy and have voiced concerns over violence in the aftermath, as was the case after the 2011 election, when 800 people died. The postponement could stoke unrest in opposition strongholds such as the commercial capital, Lagos, and Nigeria’s second city, Kano, because the opposition has been staunchly against a delay. … “The commission cannot lightly wave off the advice of the nation’s security chiefs … The risk of deploying young men and women and calling people to exercise their democratic rights in a situation where their security cannot be guaranteed is a most onerous responsibility,” Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman Attahiru Jega told reporters.

Nigeria: Elections in the Time of Boko Haram Violence, Displacement and Religious Tensions | International Business Times

As Nigeria prepares to go to the polls to elect its new president on 14 February, in what is seen as the first election contested by two rival parties, millions of Nigerians may not be able to cast their votes after all. A suicide bomb attack in a north-east Nigeria school killed at least 47 and injured 79 others as students had gathered for a morning assembly on Monday. Flaring Boko Haram violence in the northern states has left many towns ravaged, thousands dead and millions displaced. Over the last weekend, the group launched a heavy attack on Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeast Nigeria, as it seeks to build an Islamist state in the region. But it is not just the ruthless terror group that has posed a grave threat to the elections; the religious north-south divide, a seemingly ill-prepared election commission and plain logistics could be just as explosive.

Lesotho: Soldiers attacked ahead of Lesotho’s election | Associated Press

Two soldiers have been wounded and a private security guard killed during a shooting outside the presidential palace gates in Lesotho, adding to an already tense political climate ahead of elections later this month, an official said Monday. The two soldiers were attacked on Sunday by “renegade” soldiers who wanted to destabilize Lesotho ahead of the Feb. 28 elections, Thabo Thakalekoala, the prime minister’s press secretary said.

Nigeria: Nigeria braces for more Boko Haram attacks in election buildup | AFP

Nigeria on Monday braced for fresh Boko Haram attacks ahead of this month’s elections, with the key city of Maiduguri in the firing line and forces from Chad and Cameroon joining the regional fight. A weekend of violence saw the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, hit for the second Sunday in a row, but Nigerian Army soldiers, helped by civilian vigilantes, managed to keep the militants at bay. The border town of Gamboru, on Borno’s eastern fringe, meanwhile was pounded by artillery fire and from the air by Chadian jets, as troops massed in Cameroon for a possible ground offensive. The increase in both militant and military activity reflects growing fears over the Islamists’ threat to regional security and crucial elections scheduled for February 14.

Nigeria: Boko Haram Violence, Ballot Chaos Threaten Vote | NBC

A relentless campaign of slaughter by Boko Haram militants coupled with widespread administrative chaos threatens to leave tens of millions of Nigerians unable to vote in the country’s looming general election. The February 14 ballot will be the first election in the young democracy’s history in which polls suggest a close race between two rival candidates. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country, the continent’s largest economy, and a key regional ally for the U.S. But spiralling violence by the Islamist sect Boko Haram has forced upward of one million people to flee their homes and rendered a huge swath of the northeast almost uninhabitable. Compounding that, Nigeria’s top security official revealed earlier this month that half of the electorate — some 30 million people — had yet to receive their polling cards just three weeks before the ballot.

Nigeria: Opposition Rejects Any Election Delay | VoA News

Nigeria’s main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) party said its presidential candidate, former General Muhammadu Buhari, will not accept any attempt by the government to postpone the February 14 vote. APC National Public Secretary Lai Mohamed said the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking re-election, has been canvassing media houses trying to influence editorial opinion in favor of a postponement. The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has not directly come out in favor of postponement, but National Security Advisor Sambo Dasuki suggested last week that the elections should be delayed because not all voter cards had been distributed. The government has accused the opposition of politicizing the threat of the Islamic insurgency, Boko Haram.

Nigeria: Election Violence – Northern Group Reports Buhari to U.S. | allAfrica.com

A group of northern pro-democracy activists under the aegis of the Northern Coalition for Democracy and Justice (NCDJ), has reported the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, to the government of the United States of America (USA), asking it to facilitate his prosecution for his role in the post-election violence of 2011. The group, in a letter to the United States Secretary of States, Senator John Kerry, which was also copied to the US Ambassador to Nigeria, stated that the assistance of the US has become imperative in order to help Nigeria stem the tide of election violence in the 2015 election. In the letter dated January 25 and titled: ‘The role of General Muhammadu Buhari in the 2011 post-election violence in Nigeria,’ which was signed by Dr. Ibrahim Baba , Secretary Research and Documentation, Mr. Yunana Shubkau, Publicity Secretary and Umar Farouk, Secretary General, the NCDJ said it had dragged General Buhari to the International Criminal Court but needed the backing of the US to have Buhari repatriated to the court.

Nigeria: Election to Proceed on Schedule | VoA News

The spokesman for Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the February 14 presidential and gubernatorial elections will proceed as originally planned. Some recent reports had said the vote could be postponed. Kayode Idowu said the electoral body had updated its plans to administer elections in areas where residents often come under attack from radical Islamist militant group, Boko Haram. “The commission is doing everything it has to do to be in a position to conduct elections on February 14 and February 28 this year,” said Idowu. A senior security adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan is reported to have suggested that the election be postponed because of security challenges in parts of the country.

Nigeria: Kerry Meets With Nigerian Leaders to Encourage Peaceful Election | New York Times

Concerned that Nigeria could face postelection turmoil, Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday urged President Goodluck Jonathan and his principal political rival to respect the results of next month’s presidential vote and to discourage their supporters from carrying out violent protests. “It is imperative that these elections happen on time, as scheduled, and that they are an improvement over past elections,” Mr. Kerry said in a news conference at the end of his visit here. But a major attack by Boko Haram militants on Sunday in Maiduguri, a major city in northeastern Nigeria, demonstrated the challenge that confronts the Obama administration as it tries to develop a strategy to help stabilize the strategically important nation. Mr. Kerry said there was evidence that the militants from the Islamic State group, which has declared a caliphate in eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq, were now making an effort to forge alliances with terrorist groups in Africa.

Nigeria: 1 Million Displaced Voters Pose Challenge | VoA News

Nigeria’s electoral commission is scrambling to find ways that will allow approximately 1 million people displaced by Boko Haram-related violence to vote in the February elections. The independent commission says voters displaced by fighting in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states can pick up their voter cards at designated centers and refugee camps, many of them located in the state capitals. Those locations are also where displaced voters will be able to cast their ballots. That means tens of thousands of displaced Nigerians who have fled farther south must make their way back.

Nigeria: Technical Challenges to Free, Fair, and Credible Elections in Nigeria | Council on Foreign Relations

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has dominated every single Nigerian presidential election since 1999. Using sophisticated forms of electoral rigging and relying on a relatively unified political class built on patronage, a PDP incumbent or his anointed successor has secured electoral victory at every turn. Such a scenario would all but ensure the re-election of Goodluck Jonathan in the February 14, 2015 elections. But, that mold is broken. Under pressure from falling oil prices, a decline in the value of the national currency, the fall in values on the Nigerian stock exchange, the increasing success of the Boko Haram insurgency, and repeated episodes demonstrating that the Nigerian state can no longer provide security for its citizens have fractured agreements between the political elites that have run Nigeria for decades. Many elites also appear increasingly detached from the Nigerian people because of their association with corruption and poor governance.

Nigeria: President Goodluck Jonathan visits restive northeast ahead of election | Deutsche Welle

Goodluck Jonathan has visited the northeast of his country amidst escalating Boko Haram violence. Ahead of next month’s election, over one million people have fled the troubled area, possibly relinquishing their vote. Johnathan arrived in the capital of Borno State, the heart of the Boko Haram insurgency, on Wednesday afternoon local time, according to an AFP journalist. He was accompanied by the chief of defense staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, as well as other high-ranking military officers and some 200 soldiers. “What you’re doing is not easy,” he told officers at an army barracks in Maiduguri. “We thank you as a nation … We’re working day and night, trying to curtail this madness,” he added.

Nigeria: Vote Chaos Looms as Raids Highlight Islamist Threat | Bloomberg

Tujja Masa won’t dare vote in Nigeria’s presidential election next month. The 50-year-old farmer is one of the hundreds of thousands who’ve fled their northeastern villages to escape gun and bomb attacks by Islamist militants. Raids last week were said to have killed hundreds of people in the town of Baga, while a girl as young as 10 detonated explosives at a market in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. The self-declared leader of the Islamist Boko Haram group, Abubakar Shekau, has likened democracy to homosexuality and incest in video messages. “I am really afraid of election day,” Masa said in Maiduguri, the city in which he’s sheltering with relatives after running away from Krenoa, his village in the north of Borno state. “Honestly we are praying for God to come to our aid and have hitch-free elections, but I will not go there.” Nigeria, home to Africa’s biggest economy, oil industry and population, is stumbling toward general elections in the face of worsening violence by the Islamist group, Boko Haram, and the introduction of a biometric voter-card system designed to end ballot stuffing and fraud.

Sri Lanka: Monitors say voters obstructed in Sri Lankan election | Al Jazeera

Election monitors said Thursday that voters in northern Sri Lanka were prevented from casting their ballots in an election that pits President Mahinda Rajapaksa against an ally who suddenly defected from the ruling party to run against him. The Center for Monitoring Election Violence, based in the capital of Colombo, also said a hand grenade exploded near a voting station in the northern Jaffna peninsula in the Tamil minority heartland, but that no injuries were reported. Elsewhere, voting appeared to proceed without any major incidents as people formed long lines in Colombo, and turnout was good in Tamil-dominated areas where voting had been poor in previous elections. Polls closed Thursday late afternoon and full results were expected to be announced sometime Friday.

Zambia: Violent incidents reported in Zambia ahead of election | GlobalPost

One opposition supporter was on Wednesday seriously injured after supporters of rival candidates in Zambia’s presidential election clashed in the western part of the southern African nation. Supporters of the governing Patriotic Front (PF) and the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) clashed in the provincial town of Mongu early on Wednesday, leaving one member of the opposition party with a deep cut on his head after he was hit by a plank. The opposition party said in a statement that the incident happened as party members wanted to escort their leader Hakainde Hichilema who was about to fly out of the town after holding campaign rallies.

Sri Lanka: Monitor accuses ruling party of violating election rules | Reuters

Supporters of Sri Lanka’s ruling party has repeatedly violated election laws in the run-up to Thursday’s presidential vote and has largely got away with it because police have turned a blind eye, a local polling monitor said on Tuesday. The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) said there had been “unparalleled misuse of state resources and media” by the party of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose bid for a third term could be upset by an unexpected challenger from within his own ranks, Mithripala Sirisena. “There was impunity. No action was taken against the perpetrators or actions were mild,” Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, a convener of the CMEV, told reporters. He said police inaction had allowed election-related violence to mount, adding that most of those responsible were local councillors from Rajapaksa’s party.

Sri Lanka: Government uses violence to deter opposition activities, election monitor charges | Colombo Page

A Sri Lankan election watchdog charges that the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government is using violence to deter opposition political activities. Election monitor Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) says that in parallel to electoral level campaigning by the common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena there is an increase in UPFA propagated election violence. The election monitor observes that this trend is reaching systematic proportions and slowly turning into a wave of political violence. Up to December 31st CaFFE has received 1007 incidents of election law violations and election violence and 105 of them are election violence which includes 19 incidents of firearms usage. The CaFFE has noted that the government has unleashed a systematic campaign of intimidation to intimidate opposition supporters. When Common Opposition Candidate Maithripala Sirisena holds a rally, election related violence spikes in the related area targeting opposition activists and infrastructure, the monitor observes.

Bahrain: Widespread unrest continues in Bahrain | Al Bawaba

Bahrani troops have attacked people protesting the Al Khalifa regime security forces’ storming of a prominent cleric’s home, amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent. On Tuesday, the regime’s forces used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse protesters gathered on the streets of Diraz and Sadad, denouncing the raid on the house of Shia cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Ahmed Qassem on Saturday. Witnesses said the regime forces took photos of the ID cards of all those present in the house in Diraz, west of the capital Manama.

Libya: Election begins amid violence | Al Jazeera

Polling is under way in Libya to elect a new national parliament despite much of the country being in the grip of the worst violence since the 2011 uprising. Polling stations opened at 6am GMT on Wednesday, with 1.5 million registered voters choosing from the 1,628 candidates contesting 200 seats in parliament. The vote is Libya’s third legislative election since the declaration of liberation that ended the 2011 uprising against the former Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi. The 200-seat House of Representatives will replace the General National Congress which has become deadlocked in recent months in disputes between Islamist members and their opponents. On June 21 and 22, 11,000 registered Libyan voters in 13 foreign countries cast their votes in 22 voting stations, according to the Higher National Elections Committee.