BETA


2007/2557(RSP) Resolution on the recent elections in Nigeria

Progress: Procedure completed

Legal Basis:
RoP 123-p2

Events

2007/06/14
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2007/05/24
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2007/05/24
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted a joint resolution sponsored by the EPP-ED, PES, ALDE, UEN, Green/ALE and GUE/NGL groups, in which it stated that th e 2007 state and federal elections in Nigeria fell short of basic international and regional standards for democratic elections and could not be regarded as credible, free and fair, and it called for urgent remedial action in order to restore the conditions for holding credible and transparent elections in Nigeria.

The Nigerian authorities were urged to investigate election irregularities urgently, and to take immediate action to redress the situation and to make the perpetrators of those irregularities accountable for their actions. Parliament regretted that, despite an improved atmosphere in which freedoms of expression and assembly were broadly respected during the campaign, the elections could not be regarded as credible, and that they led to deaths, even before vote-counting began and sometimes even before votes were cast, with at least 200 people being killed in election-related incidents.

Parliament called on the Nigerian authorities to investigate all cases of violence and to hold perpetrators of such violence to account, and it called on the Government not to interfere with legal challenges to the electoral process. It wanted widespread civic rights and electoral education and stressed the need to tackle illiteracy, which denies Nigerian people access to the printed press and is also one of the main constraints on participation in elections, especially for women.

Parliament went on to endorse the conclusions of the European Union Election Observation Mission, and it called on the Commission by 446 votes for, 95 against and 15 abstentions to submit to the Council and the European Parliament a coherent and credible proposal on EU post-election policy which respects the free choice of the population in a given country, fearing that the current 'business as usual' policy is damaging and defeats the credibility of EU Election Observation Missions.

It stressed that EU aid to Nigeria should not be given to federal or state structures until new, credible elections had been held. Such aid must benefit the Nigerian people and should therefore be used for good governance, democratisation, voter education and community-based basic social services, particularly through civil society organisations. The Commission and its Delegation in Nigeria must ensure that the Government had no involvement in the selection of projects or the implementation of any funding under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights. Parliament urged the Federal Government to combat the patterns of corruption, violence and impunity, and to start negotiating with local populations on the future of the Niger Delta region, namely on its social, economic and environmental development.

Lastly, it noted that achieving the Millennium Development Goals was a key aspect of democracy and contributed to improving social justice and economic development.

Documents
2007/05/24
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2007/05/23
   EP - Motion for a resolution
Documents
2007/05/23
   EP - Debate in Parliament

Documents

Activities

Votes

B6-0201/2007 - Nigeria - par. 15 #

2007/05/24 Outcome: +: 446, -: 95, 0: 15
DE PL FR ES GB CZ PT HU AT EL SK RO BE NL IT SE LV SI MT LU BG CY FI EE IE LT DK
Total
78
51
50
33
55
17
16
16
15
13
13
32
20
25
38
11
8
6
4
6
9
4
10
5
2
6
13
icon: PPE-DE PPE-DE
209

Latvia PPE-DE

2

Malta PPE-DE

2

Luxembourg PPE-DE

3

Bulgaria PPE-DE

2

Cyprus PPE-DE

1

Finland PPE-DE

2

Estonia PPE-DE

For (1)

1

Lithuania PPE-DE

1

Denmark PPE-DE

Against (1)

1
icon: PSE PSE
143

Czechia PSE

For (1)

1

Greece PSE

2

Slovakia PSE

2
3

Slovenia PSE

For (1)

1

Malta PSE

2

Luxembourg PSE

For (1)

1

Finland PSE

2

Estonia PSE

2

Lithuania PSE

For (1)

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
37

Spain Verts/ALE

2

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

4

Austria Verts/ALE

2

Belgium Verts/ALE

2

Italy Verts/ALE

1

Sweden Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Finland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
27

France GUE/NGL

2

Czechia GUE/NGL

2

Greece GUE/NGL

Against (1)

2

Netherlands GUE/NGL

2

Sweden GUE/NGL

2

Cyprus GUE/NGL

2

Finland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Denmark GUE/NGL

1
icon: UEN UEN
29

Lithuania UEN

1

Denmark UEN

For (1)

1
icon: NI NI
9

United Kingdom NI

2

Czechia NI

1

Slovakia NI

Abstain (2)

3

Italy NI

1
icon: ITS ITS
9

France ITS

3

Belgium ITS

Abstain (1)

1
icon: IND/DEM IND/DEM
13

France IND/DEM

Abstain (1)

1

United Kingdom IND/DEM

4

Czechia IND/DEM

1

Netherlands IND/DEM

2

Ireland IND/DEM

For (1)

1

Denmark IND/DEM

Abstain (1)

1
icon: ALDE ALDE
80
2

Hungary ALDE

Against (1)

1

Austria ALDE

Against (1)

1

Sweden ALDE

Against (1)

1

Latvia ALDE

Against (1)

1

Slovenia ALDE

Against (1)

1

Luxembourg ALDE

Against (1)

1

Bulgaria ALDE

3

Cyprus ALDE

Against (1)

1

Estonia ALDE

Against (2)

2

Ireland ALDE

Against (1)

1

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

docs/1/docs/0/url
/oeil/spdoc.do?i=13662&j=0&l=en
docs/0/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/B-6-2007-0201_EN.html
New
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/B-6-2007-0201_EN.html
docs/1/docs/0/url
/oeil/spdoc.do?i=13662&j=0&l=en
events/0/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20070523&type=CRE
New
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/EN&reference=20070523&type=CRE
events/2
date
2007-05-24T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-6-2007-0210_EN.html title: T6-0210/2007
summary
events/2
date
2007-05-24T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
body
EP
docs
url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-6-2007-0210_EN.html title: T6-0210/2007
summary
docs/0/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B6-2007-201&language=EN
New
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/B-6-2007-0201_EN.html
docs/1/body
EC
events/2/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2007-210
New
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-6-2007-0210_EN.html
activities
  • date: 2007-05-23T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20070523&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament body: EP type: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2007-05-24T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=13662&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2007-210 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T6-0210/2007 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
commission
  • body: EC dg: External Relations commissioner: FERRERO-WALDNER Benita
committees
    docs
    • date: 2007-05-23T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B6-2007-201&language=EN title: B6-0201/2007 type: Motion for a resolution body: EP
    • date: 2007-06-14T00:00:00 docs: url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=13662&j=0&l=en title: SP(2007)3179 type: Commission response to text adopted in plenary
    events
    • date: 2007-05-23T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20070523&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
    • date: 2007-05-24T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=13662&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
    • date: 2007-05-24T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2007-210 title: T6-0210/2007 summary: The European Parliament adopted a joint resolution sponsored by the EPP-ED, PES, ALDE, UEN, Green/ALE and GUE/NGL groups, in which it stated that th e 2007 state and federal elections in Nigeria fell short of basic international and regional standards for democratic elections and could not be regarded as credible, free and fair, and it called for urgent remedial action in order to restore the conditions for holding credible and transparent elections in Nigeria. The Nigerian authorities were urged to investigate election irregularities urgently, and to take immediate action to redress the situation and to make the perpetrators of those irregularities accountable for their actions. Parliament regretted that, despite an improved atmosphere in which freedoms of expression and assembly were broadly respected during the campaign, the elections could not be regarded as credible, and that they led to deaths, even before vote-counting began and sometimes even before votes were cast, with at least 200 people being killed in election-related incidents. Parliament called on the Nigerian authorities to investigate all cases of violence and to hold perpetrators of such violence to account, and it called on the Government not to interfere with legal challenges to the electoral process. It wanted widespread civic rights and electoral education and stressed the need to tackle illiteracy, which denies Nigerian people access to the printed press and is also one of the main constraints on participation in elections, especially for women. Parliament went on to endorse the conclusions of the European Union Election Observation Mission, and it called on the Commission by 446 votes for, 95 against and 15 abstentions to submit to the Council and the European Parliament a coherent and credible proposal on EU post-election policy which respects the free choice of the population in a given country, fearing that the current 'business as usual' policy is damaging and defeats the credibility of EU Election Observation Missions. It stressed that EU aid to Nigeria should not be given to federal or state structures until new, credible elections had been held. Such aid must benefit the Nigerian people and should therefore be used for good governance, democratisation, voter education and community-based basic social services, particularly through civil society organisations. The Commission and its Delegation in Nigeria must ensure that the Government had no involvement in the selection of projects or the implementation of any funding under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights. Parliament urged the Federal Government to combat the patterns of corruption, violence and impunity, and to start negotiating with local populations on the future of the Niger Delta region, namely on its social, economic and environmental development. Lastly, it noted that achieving the Millennium Development Goals was a key aspect of democracy and contributed to improving social justice and economic development.
    • date: 2007-05-24T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
    links
    other
    • body: EC dg: External Relations commissioner: FERRERO-WALDNER Benita
    procedure/legal_basis/0
    Rules of Procedure EP 123-p2
    procedure/legal_basis/0
    Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 123-p2
    procedure/subject
    Old
    • 6.10.04 Third-country political situation, local and regional conflicts
    New
    6.10.04
    Third-country political situation, local and regional conflicts
    procedure/subtype
    Old
    Resolution on statements
    New
    Resolution on statement
    procedure/subject/0
    Old
    6.10.04 Third-countries political situation, local and regional conflicts
    New
    6.10.04 Third-country political situation, local and regional conflicts
    activities
    • date: 2007-05-23T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20070523&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament body: EP type: Debate in Parliament
    • date: 2007-05-24T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=13662&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2007-210 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T6-0210/2007 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
    committees
      links
      other
      • body: EC dg: External Relations commissioner: FERRERO-WALDNER Benita
      procedure
      reference
      2007/2557(RSP)
      title
      Resolution on the recent elections in Nigeria
      legal_basis
      Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 123-p2
      stage_reached
      Procedure completed
      subtype
      Resolution on statements
      type
      RSP - Resolutions on topical subjects
      subject
      6.10.04 Third-countries political situation, local and regional conflicts