The European Union has backed calls for the chairperson of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be named by a neutral body, and not the president, the group’s Nigeria 2011 election observation team said Tuesday. In its final report on the April polls released yesterday, the EU Election Observation Mission recommended a non-presidential nomination for the INEC top job as earlier proposed by the 2009 Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Committee.
The report praised government efforts at implementing some suggestions of the committee, which led to major constitutional reforms, but “regretted” that parts of the recommendations were not adopted.
“Regrettably,” said Alodj Peterle who led the Mission, “the amendments failed to introduce some of the ERC’s recommendations, such as the independent appointment of the chair of INEC and the Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC), the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission, a Political Parties Registration and Regulatory Commission, and provisions for independent candidates to run for office.
“It is recommended that these issues are addressed in future reforms of the legislative framework”, Mr. Peterle added.
The document, chronicling a rigorous electoral process that stretched from months of planning and legal reforms to a deadly aftermath in which over 800 died in riots, was presented yesterday in Abuja.
The Mission condemned the violence which erupted in many northern states after the presidential elections and called for the prosecution of the perpetrators. It applauded the general conduct of the polls — as it had done in preliminary reports — but managed to steer clear from categorically calling the polls “credible, free and fair”.
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