INEC HOLDS ELECTIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY

UNCLAS ABUJA 000807 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM NI ELECTIONS SUBJECT: INEC HOLDS ELECTIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY ¶1. Nigeria's National Electoral Commission (INEC) initially claimed that elections were successfully conducted in Nigeria with minor exceptions, but the rescheduled elections will hold in 28 out of the 36 states of Nigeria on April 28. The elections will hold for various offices across the six geographical zones. According to INEC's spokesman Philip Umeadi, 117 elections are to be conducted. The elections are for the governorship, state assembly and federal constituencies, and Senatorial seats. According to INEC sources, elections were postponed in these districts due to several factors that included non-appearance of party and candidate names, photo and party symbols on the ballots. In some areas, the ballot papers were not ready or mistakenly taken to other districts. ¶2. The states include: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Kwara, Kebbi, Katsina, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, and Zamfara. ¶3. COMMENT: Give INEC's performance last week, there is likely to be little interest in these elections, although some could attract angry supporters to the polls to either repeat or defend against the actions of the past two elections. CAMPBELL