Nigeria's electoral commission has announced the postponement of the country's presidential and legislative elections until March 28th due to security concern over the fighting with Boko Haram.
Commission chairman Attahiru Jega said that security forces need six weeks to conduct "a major operation" against Boko Haram and cannot also safeguard the elections. If voting originally scheduled for February 14th, millions could be disenfranchised due to Boko Haram extremists hold a large swath of the northeast and commit mayhem, which has left 1.5 million people homeless.
Officials in President Goodluck Jonathan's administration had been calling for the postponement. But it was opposed by Jonathan's chief rival, former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari and his opposition coalition, even though the opposition is expected to take the most votes in the northeast.