Two opposition political parties from Nigeria and Malawi have asked incumbent Presidents across the continent to hands off their hands from selection of personnel of the National Electoral body.
The two opposition parties also demanded for a free and fair elections in the continent for Africa to develop democratically.
The national Chairman of the African Democratic Party (ADP), Engr Yabagi Yusuf Sani and the interim leader of opposition of the parliament of Malawi , Mr Lobin Lowe who met at the national secretariat of the ADP in Abuja, Friday said a truly independent electoral commission remains the recipe for the conduct of a free a d fair poll in the continent.
Sani who described the ADP as the fastest growing opposition party with six million registered members insist that INEC must be insulated from the influence of the ruling political parties in the continent to guarantee a free and fair elections.
According to him: “For us in the ADP, free and fair election is largely dependent on the electoral umpire. It is like what we see and the game of football. If the referee is impartial and keep to the rule, the game will be fair to all sides.
“For us to have a truly independent electoral body that supervises the electioneering process, we need to change our approach on how we appoint the chairman and commissioner down to other high level offers in the commission.
“We should be able to come up with a system whereby we have people that are apolitical as umpires of our elections. Such persons must not be appointees of the President. like the saying goes whoever pays the piper dictates the tune. We must take away such powers from the president so that we can have free and fair poll.”
Lowe who is of the leading opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) said the recently held poll won President Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was characterised by votes rigging and electoral malpractices.
Expressing optimism that his party would upturn DPP’s victory in the court, he said the controversy surrounding the election in his home country would have been averted if the electoral umpire is free from the influence of the incumbent President.
He noted: “The moment the electoral body is nominated by the President, you can be sure it will do bidding of the president.
We want an electoral umpire appointed based on merit. This could be done through the Parliament or through an election. It should not depend on the appointment of the president.”
Lowe argued that the introduction of electronic voting cannot guarantee the conduct of a free and fair poll since it is dependent on personnel of the electoral umpire who could be forced to compromise the process to satisfy they benefactors.
The opposition leader stated that his party shares a common affinity with the ADP in areas revolving around the need for a credible leadership that would tackle corruption and cater for the wellbeing of the citizenry in both Nigeria and Malawi.
