Mali: Nigeria Seeks $25M for Mali Elections | VoA News

West African leaders have called for $25 million in international aid to help secure the upcoming elections in Mali.  As Guinea-Bissau also prepares for elections, leaders want an end to international sanctions on that country. Heads of state from the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, are meeting this week in the Nigerian capital ahead of elections in Mali and Guinea-Bissau, two countries in turmoil. After the French-led invasion of northern Mali in January that wrested territories away from Islamist militant groups, nationwide presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled for July 28.

Liberia: Campaigns for presidential run-off ends|Africa|chinadaily.com.cn

Official campaign for the 2011 run-off presidential election in Liberia scheduled for Tuesday ends mid-night Sunday, according to the National Election Commission guideline. The election takes place despite boycott by main opposition party Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) leaded Winston Tubman.

Tubman was recently summoned to the Nigerian Federal Capital, Abuja by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to convince him to take part in the run-off following his party’s boycott threats. The ruling party, UP and the CDC were winners and runners-up in the first round of voting and were scheduled to contest for the presidency in a run-off on Nov 8, 2011. Despite the resignation of the former chairman of National Electoral Commission (NEC), James Fromayan, the commission said the election process will go ahead as all election materials and staffs have been deployed throughout the country.

Nigeria: Court overrules election challenge | The Associated Press

An election tribunal on Tuesday dismissed the main opposition party’s challenge over fraud claims in the April presidential election, revalidating the ruling party’s win in Africa’s most populous nation. The Congress for Progressive Change’s election lawsuit failed to cast reasonable doubt on the results that handed victory to President Goodluck Jonathan about six months ago, said Judge Kumai Akaas, who led a panel of four judges that reached an unanimous decision.

“The petitioner did not discharge the burden of proof, even on the balance of probability,” Akaas said. Opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari’s party challenged the results of the April 16 vote soon after the nation’s election body announced that Jonathan had won 22.4 million votes. The election body said Buhari had come in second place with 12.2 million votes, with the results giving Jonathan enough votes in at least 24 of Nigeria’s 36 states to avoid a runoff.

Nigeria: Court rejects challenge to Jonathan win | Reuters

A Nigerian court rejected a challenge to President Goodluck Jonathan’s victory in an April election, scuppering demands by the main opposition party for a recount in several areas of the country. Jonathan was declared winner of the April 16 election with 59 percent of the vote. But his nearest rival, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, who polled 32 percent, refused to accept the outcome.

Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) party filed a petition to challenge the result in May, arguing the vote was marred by irregularities. “The petition fails in its entirety and is hereby dismissed,” Justice Kumai Akaahs told the court on Tuesday, reading out a unanimous decision by five judges.

Nigeria: Witnesses recount Nigerian election violence experience before panel | Next

Witnesses at the post-election violence commission’s sitting in Akwa Ibom State have blamed the crisis in the state on the lack of tolerance for the opposition, but declined to mention the party, or parties, that instigated the violence.

The commission, which is enquiring into the March 22 mayhem that happened in Ikot Ekpene and Uyo, was set up on May 11, 2011 by President Goodluck Jonathan to look into the remote causes that brought about the mayhem.