Mounting Tension: US, UK “Very Concerned” About Signs of Interference in Vote Counting

Secretary of State John Kerry and his British counterpart warned of “disturbing indications” on Monday that vote counting in Nigeria was subject to political interference.

Nigeria held presidential elections over the weekend, and vote counts were trickling in.
Kerry and U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said their governments welcomed the “largely peaceful vote” and that they have seen “no evidence of systemic manipulation” of the electoral process.
“But there are disturbing indications that the collation process — where the votes are finally counted — may be subject to deliberate political interference,” they said in a joint statement. “The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom would be very concerned by any attempts to undermine the independence of the Electoral Commission … or in any way distort the expressed will of the Nigerian people.”