ABUJA (Thomson Financial) - One of the three leading contenders in the race for Nigeria's presidency has called for the election to be re-run after widespread chaos with ballot papers and charges of voter fraud.
'I have already rejected the elections,' Vice President Atiku Abubakar told journalists in the capital, Abuja, a day ahead of the publication of the first results from Saturday's presidential and legislative elections.
'They have no alternative other than to cancel them altogether.'
In a statement from Berlin, the German presidency of the European Union noted election 'irregularities' and bloodshed that erupted in some regions.
'These incidents have given rise to concerns that not all Nigerians entitled to vote really were able to do so freely and without fear,' a statement said.
As Africa's largest oil producer and the world's sixth-largest exporter, Western powers hope to see the poll to live up to what it was billed to be - the first peaceful civilian-to-civilian handover since Nigeria gained independence in 1960.
A re-run would be no small task given the logistical challenge of organising elections in a country with 140 mln people and a track record of electoral violence and political thuggery. Voter registration alone took several months.
Saturday's vote was marred by delays and ballot-box mayhem, as well as violence.
'What we have seen clearly proves our fears that it is the worst election ever seen,' Abubakar said.
A day after the close of polling, the electoral commission (INEC) was unable to indicate turnout and results were not expected until Monday.
As counting took place, Nigeria's largest local observer body, the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), said it too might request cancellation of the poll.
'From all the reports we are getting from the field, these were not credible elections, so it tends to the direction that we will reject the results and ask for new elections to be held,' TMG head Innocent Chukwuma told AFP.
The organisation had 50,000 observers on the ground during the election.
Complaints centred on ballot papers failing to be delivered on time to the country's 120,000 polling stations, with some Nigerians unable to cast their votes at all, and others only late in the day.
And due to printing errors on some of the 65 million ballots, parliamentary and senatorial elections had to be cancelled at the last minute Saturday in parts of the country.
The electoral havoc was partly caused by a supreme court decision this week to allow Abubakar, who is facing corruption allegations, to run in the election, overruling his disqualification by the election commission.
Abubakar defected from the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) to run for the opposition Action Congress.
The other leading contenders are Umaru Yar'Adua of the PDP, who is tipped as the likely winner, and former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari of the opposition All Nigeria People's Party.
Buhari said Saturday that his impression was of a 'very disappointing' poll. 'There are some states where the election materials were not received.'
In Buhari's home town, Daura in northern Katsina, youths angered by the lack of ballot papers went on the rampage and burnt down six houses belonging to people close to the PDP.
According to figures compiled by AFP at least 39 people have died in election-related violence alone in the past eight days. About the same number again were killed in religious violence in the north of the country.
'I am not impressed by these elections,' leading lawyer and human rights activist Gani Fawehinmi told AFP.
'If we have to transit for the first time from one civilian government to another, it does not have to be by killing the democratic process through perpetration of violence and engaging in electoral malpractices,' he added. tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com afp/gp COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.