Nigerian Supreme Court decision
Today the Nigerian Supreme Court ruled that the electoral commission unlawfully excluded Atiku Abubakar, a leading opposition candidate (and Vice President), as the NYTimes and VOA describe (this blog tried to link to the actual decision, but it did not come up… if it comes up, we will try to post it). As noted in an earlier post on Uganda, despite the real problems continuing to face many countries in Africa, there are real (and brave) legal challenges taking place all over. Of course there may be other concerns over the overall fairness of the election, as the NYTimes notes, but increasingly it seems that the judicial bodies and lawyer groups are challenging other branches/other power, and these internal checks and challenges (as opposed to just the “usual” external critiques of election-monitoring groups) are a positive sign.
internationallaw
April 24, 2007 @ 7:56 pm
It is sad to hear of the follow-up to the deeply flawed election. It is also plausible the late hour of the Supreme Court decision was also a way to impact the results while still maintaining that there is a balance of power. Only people on the ground would know. In any event, it is clear that judicial bodies alone do not make a country more democratic — but this does not mean they should not be supported when they struggle to improve the situation.