Nigerian Election: Youth Protests over Voter Cards not Distributed and INEC not Organized

 A man is pictured throwing water toward a burning car after a bomb explosion barely a few minutes after Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan left Gombe stadium February 2, 2015. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

Around one hundred youths surrounded the Independent National Electoral Commission headquarters in Abuja for the second day of demonstrations demanding that the Feb. 14 election be postponed to allow voter cards to be distributed because of the government’s failure to distribute required voter identification cards reported the Nigerian Daily Trust.

 

Protest organizers have charged the government of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan of failing to distribute up to 40 percent of the permanent voter cards required to participate in the election, which is seen as one of Nigeria’s most hotly contested poll in decades.

 

Protesters also claimed that the electoral commission had not recruited the 960,000 ad hoc staff necessary to conduct the election, one of the many factors which they argued could disenfranchise millions of voters in the country.