way to credible elections in 2011, by Izeze

TO ensure free and fair elections in 2011, there must be internal democracy within the nation’s political parties, according to the Managing Director of The Guardian, Mr. Emeka Izeze.

Izeze who spoke at the weekend during the Brown University Achebe colloquium, Rhode Island, United States noted that he had not seen sufficient proof of internal democracy in any of the political parties.

According to him, even the quality of the candidates the parties are now proposing “is not getting better.” He said the parties did not yet understand they had to change. “You do not see any sense that parties understand that they have to be democratic,“ Izeze stated.

He said important elements needed for a successful election were the quality of the human capital at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the public perception of the officials running the commission. Izeze who spoke during a panel discussion of the topic “Nigeria: Elections and Political Transparency” stated that while “we are lucky that Prof. Jega is there, it will take more than a good man to have a good election.”

Explaining the importance of the electorate’s expectation as another element, Izeze asked, “does the electorate really care?” Responding, he said he was yet to see that happening in Nigeria.

The Guardian Editor-in-Chief also observed that the policy preparations towards the 2011 elections itself had been constrained by time and did not begin early enough. For instance, he said the new INEC leadership did not begin work until the end of June, saying “we should be more serious.”

He wondered whether it was not a puzzle to expect INEC within six months to conduct a good election especially with all the debates and controversies over the Electoral Act and the amendment of the constitution.

Izeze noted that in Nigeria there was the culture of hoping that things would work themselves out. He said a classic definition of madness was to do the same thing the same way over and again while expecting a different result.

According to the senior journalist, “I will not be carried away because INEC now has a good image, but all the same political party leaders are still there.”

Source:/www.ngrguardiannews.com