Observation of elections by the citizens has become one of the global yardsticks for assessing credibility and transparency of an election, highlighting specifi c recommendations for improvement and garner support of their international community for genuine democratic elections.
Also, election observation promotes public confi dence in the democratic process. One of the techniques devised to deepen democratic process through close monitoring of elections is the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) methodology which made its name in the Philippines when the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) exposed the issues involved with the 1986 Philippine Presidential election. While the PVT methodology which uses statistics and information communication technology to calculate elections result using trained accredited citizen observers may not be a popular concept amongst Nigerians, it has proven to be a dependable means of verifying elections results over the years.
Citizen observation also successfully ended the 27 years reign of former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda when a group of citizen observers called Z-vote revealed to the public how Kaunda had woefully lost the 1991 elections but the electoral commission announced him as the winner. Th e accurate fi gures obtained via observers’ analysis left Kaunda with no choice but to step down. In recent times, citizen observation was also successfully deployed in the 2016 general elections in Zambia Tunisia in 2014, Burkina Faso in 2015, Ivory Coast in 2015, Ghana in 2016 and Nigeria 2011 and 2015.
Nigeria has also experienced a fair share of citizen observers during elections as NGOs deployed observers for both general elections in 2011 and 2015 including gubernatorial elections in Ondo, Ekiti and Osun states. In view of foregoing, a civic hub dedicated to the promotion of democracy, accountability and citizens’ participation, Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth & Advancement (YIAGA) recently deployed 75 observers to rotationally observe at least 225 wards out of the 326 Continuous Voters Registration ward centers across Anambra State in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
Th is was to observe and report to the Independent National Electoral Commissions the entire registration process ranging from the opening of centers and registration of prospective voters. In the longer term, citizen election observation helps ensure electoral integrity and strengthens civil society’s capacity to promote citizen participation, engage in policy advocacy and foster governmental accountability within and well beyond the election cycle. Moshood Isah, Media Offi cer, Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA)
