Yiaga Africa Watching the Vote has assured Nigerians that they would use an advanced Election Day observation methodology, called the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) to provide independent information to voters, candidates, political parties.
YIAGA also assured that the information will also be provided to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) about whether the official results for the presidential elections truly reflect the ballots cast at polling units.
The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo further told newsmen in Abuja on Thursday that the PVT is an election day observation methodology that leverages statistics and technology for the observation of the process of voting and counting and tallying of results.
He said citizens observers are deployed to randomly sampled polling units to collect data on the conduct of elections and official polling unit-level results.
“With the results assembled from the sampled polling units, a citizen observer group can release projected estimates and verify the accuracy of results declared by the election management body.
“Using this methodology, observer reports are sent via SMS to a central database which enables WTV to analyse and share timely findings on the conduct of the election in near real-time.
About #Watching TheVote (PVT) Methodology:
“The PVT allows Yiaga Africa’s WTV to present an accurate and comprehensive assessment of the election day processes, such as whether election officials comply with the guidelines for the conduct of elections, the presence of security agents, the presence and behaviour of party agents, the secrecy of the ballot and transparency of the counting process.
“It is the only observation methodology that can independently verify the accuracy of election day results as released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which is the body legally mandated to do so.
“Accordingly, every observer deployed sends the election results from the polling units as announced on election day.
“For the 2023 Presidential Election, #Watching The Vote will deploy 3014 stationary and 774 LGA’s and 48 mobile citizen observers to a representative random sample of 1507 polling units across all 36 States and the FCT.
“The sample is carefully constructed by a trained statistician to ensure every LGA is included proportionally in the sample. The number of sampled polling units for each LGA is therefore based on the percentage of polling units and registered voters in that LGA.
“WTV observers will use their mobile phones to send coded text messages (SMS) of observation reports to Yiaga Africa’s WTV National Data Centre in Abuja. Each observer will receive a structured observation checklist and a critical incident form to ensure uniformity in the observation process,” he said.
Also, the National President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Chris Isiguzo, said the media remains important and strategic stakeholders to facilitate a credible election especially when it has to do with dissemination of fake news.
He also urged the media not to allow Political actors take advantage of Journalists and ensure development Journalism.
Also, the National President of National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Comrade Ladi Bala, said Journalists have critical roles to play in the electoral process as Nigeria election is a project that should be placed above any other issues.
