ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's cabinet on Wednesday recommended the president retain his power to appoint the head of the electoral commission, prompting some to question whether federal elections can be run fairly in 2011.
President Umaru Yar'Adua's cabinet rejected recommendations from an electoral reform committee to give the judiciary the power to choose the chairman and board members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which conducts elections in Africa's most populous nation.
The federal election in 2007, meant to be a democratic watershed for the OPEC member, was deemed flawed by foreign and local observers. Ballot-stuffing, results switching, violence and intimidation were so widespread that observers called it a charade.
"(The) government is mindful of the doctrine of separation of powers, which would be violated if the judiciary is asked to step in to perform executive functions," the cabinet said in a statement.
Yar'Adua, whose own electoral victory in April 2007 was upheld by the Supreme Court in December, had promised to reform the electoral process after the last federal election The cabinet's decision on Wednesday drew criticism.
"We think this is unfair. INEC needs to be independent of the presidency," said Samuel Egwu, convenor of the Citizens Forum for Constitutional Reform.
The cabinet did support the committee's recommendation that funding for the electoral agency be independent of the presidency.
The 36 state governors must now approve the cabinet's reforms before it goes before parliament.
Nigeria, a country of 140 million people and Africa's biggest oil producer, returned to civilian rule in 1999 after three decades of almost continuous military dictatorship.
(Reporting by Felix Onuah and Randy Fabi; Editing by Matthew Jones)
