Shaky start to registration leaves many Nigerians sceptical of elections.(Dispatches)

From: The Sunday Independent (South Africa) | Date: November 19, 2006 | Copyright information

BYLINE: Craig Timberg

In a half-built office building, Maryam Adamu Umar, 28, smiled into the eye of a tiny camera. Moments later, a printer churned out a strip of paper that officials say will be key to the freest, fairest vote in Nigeria's 46-year struggle towards democracy.

An election official used a child's Spider-Man ruler to tear the new, technologically advanced voter card into proper shape. And though the lamination machine had run out of plastic, Umar did not complain. She hoisted her two-year-old daughter onto her hip and walked away with the piece of paper ...

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