The List: The World’s Ugliest Elections

Foreign Policy ^ | 10/14/2008 | David Kenner

[bruinbirdman]

Personal attacks and inaccurate accusations are flying as John McCain and Barack Obama “take the gloves off” in the home stretch of the U.S. presidential election, and Americans might have a hard time imagining that it could get any worse. But as voters in the following five countries can attest, it definitely can.

Nigeria

General Election, April 2007

The offenders: then President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and current President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua

How it got ugly: This comically flawed election dashed any hopes that Africa’s most populous country might lead the way for democratic reform throughout the region. President Obasanjo, thwarted in his desire for a third term by Nigeria’s Senate, spent his time feuding with his own vice president, Atiku Abubakar, who had presidential aspirations of his own. No longer on speaking terms, the two leaders relied on visiting journalists to hurl insults back and forth. “Tell the vice president he is a crook,” Obasanjo instructed a group of Western journalists. In response, Abubakar implored the reporters to tell the president, “I cannot guarantee you there will be peaceful elections.”

In the end, Obasanjo rigged the election to ensure the victory of his ally, Katsina state Governor Yar’Adua. Police officers were observed holding the ballot sheets of Nigerians as they made their selection, a practice officials referred to as “helping” the voters. “It’s not by any means a perfect election,” Obasanjo noted philosophically, “but there is no human arrangement you can describe as perfect until when we get to God and eternity.”

Worst of the worst: Why Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua (ie: A Pathological Liar, Hypocrite and Usurper) and the Satanic and Corrupt People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Must Go Now —the title of a book published by the “Save Nigeria Campaign Organization,” an independent funding organization that