Before the election, state officials said felons could vote only if they had written clemency orders, although most other states automatically restore voting rights to felons when they complete their sentences.

Those decisions are among as many as 2,000 clemency orders issued annually, not by the president but by governors.

But a 47-year-old inmate of state prison is likely to get a more practical benefit from a less-noticed clemency order issued the same day.

In the announcement from the governor's office about the two clemency orders issued last week, Mr. Nkemakolam was listed first, before the decision on Mr. Bruce.

The clemency order was the Governor's first in five years in office.

A recent clemency order had been widely criticised internationally for granting only 13 minor political activists their freedom.

After being held for three months without charge or trial, the priest was released in March under a special clemency order by the Government.

The ten convicted on February 18, 1981, but then released under Clinton's clemency order were:

We have seen this clemency order which has reduced some prison sentences.

He arrives to confront a number of major open criminal investigations, like the broad look at the late-hour clemency orders issued by President Bill Clinton, who has denied any wrongdoing.