Nigeria Waits to See If Military Allows Vote Two Political Parties, Both the Creation of the Ruling Regime, Are Contesting the Elections

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NIGERIANS are on the threshold of a transition to democracy, but they have come this far and been turned away before.

One question dominates this country's politics: Will President Ibrahim Babangida keep his promise to hold elections on June 12, or postpone the transition for the fourth time in three years?

General Babangida, who took power in a military coup in 1985, reaffirmed this week that the armed forces were committed to handing over power Aug. 27, calling skeptics "choristers of the military-will-not-go tune."

But a military decree issued in April increased the powers of the Army-backed National Electoral Commission to put off the presidential …