Citizens of Africa’s most populous country will go to the polls in April to elect their leaders for the fourth time since Nigeria’s transition to civilian government in 1998-99. The National Democratic Institute (NDI) is conducting an international observation mission to analyze the electoral process before, during and after the elections.

NDI fielded a pre-election assessment team in Nigeria from Oct. 10 to 15, 2010, and will deploy approximately 30 short-term observers for the presidential election. Observations in this newsletter are based on the findings of NDI’s 12 long-term international observers, who are reporting on the country’s electoral process in each of Nigeria's six geopolitical zones.