YIAGA
YIAGA Deploys
YIAGA
YIAGA Deploys 882 Pre-Election Observers
Nationwide
… To Monitor Hate Speech, Violence , Party Campaigns, Voter
Education
The 2019 General Elections is fast approaching with the
completion of political party primaries and nomination of
candidates and flag-bearers of political parties for another
competitive the General elections.
While observation of party primaries signaled the commencement
of Pre-election observation ahead of the 2019 elections, YIAGA
AFRICA’s Watching The Vote has trained and deploy 882 Long Term
Observers (LTOs) across Local Government Areas in Nigeria. WTV Long
Term Observers will be deployed from November 9th 2018 to February
7th 2019 to observe their pre-election environment ahead of the
2019 general elections. Observers will be armed with Pre-election
observation checklists and critical incident forms to report their
observation to the Watching The Vote database.
YIAGA AFRICA Watching The Vote is deploying direct observation
of the Pre-election environment to observe the 2019 pre-election
environment. party primaries, interviews and desk review of media
reports. YIAGA AFRICA WTV deployed at least two Long Term Observers
(LTOs), drawn from each of the 36 states and 774 LGAs to observe
and report preelection activities and critical incidents.
LTOs will be observing the activities of the Independent
National Electoral Commission’s (INEC), voter education campaigns,
political party campaigns, activities of marginalized groups,
violence indicators, hate speech amongst other pre-election
activities as it relates to the 2019 General Elections.
YIAGA AFRICA will provide bi-weekly report of Nigeria’s
pre-election environment ahead of the 2019 general elections,
followed with recommendations to major election stakeholders
including the Nigerian citizens. In this vein, the following
activities remain very important and will surely have impact on the
2019 Elections:
Preparatory Activities by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC)
INEC is the constitutionally mandated body responsible for
elections. As such it is important to observe INEC’s activities
throughout the electoral process. INEC activities during the
pre-election period may include, identifying locations of polling
units, recruiting of ad hoc staff (polling officials), training of
permanent and ad hoc staff (polling officials), and holding
meetings with election stakeholders (political parties and civic
organizations).” WTV 822 Long Term Observers drawn from 36 States
of Nigeria and 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) will follow these
activities closely at their assigned LGAs and also meet
periodically with INEC officials based in their assigned LGA to
discuss preparations for the elections.
Voter Education Activities by INEC, NOA and CSOs
YIAGA AFRICA’s Watching The Vote will also be observing the
level of Voter education by major election stakeholders as it
remains an important aspect of every election. For we at YIAGA
AFRICA, Voter education campaigns by major stakeholders like INEC,
the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and civil society
organization both witnessed and heard of via the media that maybe
providing information through: newspapers, radio, television, the
Internet, cell phone ringtones, posters, t-shirts, etc, will be
followed closely.
Political Party Campaign Activities
Campaigning by political parties and candidates is a critical
element of a genuine election process as It provides an important
mechanism for voters to learn about the parties/candidates and
their positions on issue that are important to them. In this vein,
WTV LGA Supervisors will be observing and reporting rallies by any
party or candidate and display of posters for any party or
candidate in their assigned LGA.
Violence Monitoring
As an organization, we build early warning signals using various
violence indicators like hate speech, voter inducement,
inter-community clashes amongst other indicators which may trigger
violence. WatchingTheVote Pre-election Observation will track and
escalate any trigger of violence ahead of the 2019 elections to
enable necessary authorities like the Nigerian Police and other
security agencies mitigate threats. This also includes attacks on
candidates, their supporters, campaign trails, election officials,
media and other election stakeholders. Destruction of posters,
billboards and other campaign materials are also major triggers of
violence which will be reported and escalated accordingly.
For us at YIAGA AFRICA, election is a process which commences
from the Pre-election phase which includes every activity that can
impact on the election day process. It can be recalled that, as
part of efforts to deepen the integrity of the candidate selection
process, YIAGA AFRICA Watching The Vote observed the conduct of
party primaries to assess their compliance with democratic
principles, norms and standards enshrined in the legal framework
for elections. The observation entailed highlighting
recommendations for improving the integrity and quality of party
primaries.
YIAGA AFRICA Watching The Vote (WTV) is Nigeria’s largest
non-partisan and independent movement of citizens observers. As
part of effort to deepen democracy through credible election
observation, YIAGA AFRICA through its WTV project has been
observing elections since 2011. YIAGA AFRICA’s WTV recently
observed the off-circle Governorship Elections in Ondo 2016,
Anambra in 2017, Ekiti and Osun both in 2018.
Samson Itodo
Executive Director YIAGA AFRICA
Moshood Isah
Communication Officer, YIAGA AFRICA
November 12, 2018