20110304
reuters

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria has completed a new 74-million-strong voter register it hopes will help ensure credible elections next month, but insecurity and the partiality of the courts remain challenges to a free and fair vote.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said late on Thursday it had finalised a new electoral roll of 73,528,040 voters, a strong turnout in a population of around 150 million people, half of whom are under 18.

Previous elections in Africa's most populous nation were based on an electoral roll including names such us "Nelson Mandela" or "Michael Jackson" but omitting legitimate voters, skewing the results even before ballot boxes were stuffed or results sheets doctored.

INEC chairman Attahiru Jega has been praised by election observers, diplomats and politicians as more independent and credible than his predecessor, but overhauling the voter register was always going to be the easy part.

Preventing violence during campaigning and on polling day, ensuring results are not altered after collation and that voting booths are adequately protected, and making sure electoral disputes are settled impartially are bigger challenges.

"The manipulation of youth to perpetrate violence on behalf of political actors continues to be a significant threat to the integrity of the electoral process," the International Republican Institute (IRI), one of several outside bodies monitoring the vote, said after a pre-election visit to Nigeria.

At least four people were killed on Thursday by an explosive device thrown from a car at a ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) rally in Suleja, near the capital Abuja, the latest act of violence in the build-up to the polls.

Suleja was not considered a particular flashpoint and the use of explosives to target civilians, until recently extremely rare in most of Nigeria, highlights the risk of indiscriminate violence even in areas considered relatively safe.