YIAGA
2019 Elections:
YIAGA
2019 Elections: Still on Media-Citizen Observers
Colloboration – Moshood Isah
The 2019 general election is less than a fortnight away with
election stakeholders getting set for another all-important general
election in Nigeria. There have been questions on the rise
concerning the accuracy of election results: “Will it reflect the
voting reality or if it will be altered?” In recent times, citizen
observers have played a crucial role in the electoral process
especially in the area of observation, providing accurate data and
verifying accuracy of elections result. The days of anecdotal
reporting of election should go away with the previous elections,
as data-driven reportage is consistently proving to be the best way
to analyze quality of elections. While journalists cannot be at all
polling units at the same time, it has become pertinent to leverage
on citizen observer information to galvanise reports for quality
control.
Although, traditional election observers may also not have the
wherewithal to be at all polling units at the same time, this may
leave the audience with anecdotal report. In this vein, a
systematic election observation methodology which provides accurate
and real time information on the election process remains the best
possible way to access quality of elections and remain the only
independent way to verify the accuracy of the elections result.
During a roundtable with journalists and editors on the 2019
General elections and the deployment of Parallel Vote Tabulation
organized by YIAGA AFRICA through a project called Watching The
Vote, the Executive Director, Samson Itodo revealed the vital role
of citizens and the media in the course of the election. He
reiterated that while citizen observers play a massive role in
providing election data, journalists should leverage on credible
election data rather than anecdotal reportage of the election.
The good news however is that, organisations like YIAGA ARICA
through its Watching The Vote (WTV) project, have consistently
deployed a systematic methodology called the Parallel Vote
Tabulation (PVT) to observe elections in recent times. The PVT is a
proven Election Day observation methodology that allows
non-partisan citizen observers to observe and provide accurate
information on the Election Day process using Information
Technology and Statistics thereby verifying the accuracy of
elections results released by the electoral commission.
The PVT which originated from the Philippines by a group called
the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) was
successfully used to oust the then President, who had initially
manipulated elections outcome. During the Presidential elections in
1986, NAMFREL mobilized 500,000 volunteers nationwide to observe
the process. The then President, Ferdinand Marcos declared himself
the winner of the election; the NAMFREL count, however, showed
otherwise. This led to People Power revolt which ultimately ousted
Marcos.
A similar scenario happened in Zambia during the 1992
Presidential elections where citizen observers prevented election
malpractice using the PVT. While PVT has also been used in Nigeria
during general elections and off-circle elections from 2011,
Nigerian media may not have maximized available data from citizen
observers to assess quality of elections. But the 2019 elections is
another window of opportunity for the media to utilize the data
output provided by independent and non-partisan citizens observers
nationwide to verify and corroborate with facts of the elections
for their news reports. For instance, the PVT provides information
such as the time in which voting commenced at polling units and the
functionality of the card reader, and eventually an estimate of
elections results.
There has also been a debate surrounding the usage of smart card
readers and incident forms, however citizen observers using the PVT
methodology can provide accurate data on the percentage of polling
units that made use of smart readers for accreditation and
authentication of voters throughout the election period. This will
then give an insight on the possibility of multiple voting, voting
by proxy or election malpractice.
Back to the question of whether the election result will reflect
the voting reality or it will be altered. Only the citizen
observers using the Parallel Vote Tabulation observation
methodology can verify the accuracy of the results or expose any
form of malpractice in the process. Thus, there is need to sound a
note of warning to any individuals or any group who may be planning
to manipulate the 2019 general elections, because the citizen
observers will expose it.
Finally, Nigerians are making a clarion call to journalists to
leverage on credible elections data in a bid to give an accurate
analysis of the elections. In this vein, electoral stakeholders can
assess quality of elections and work on recommendations to better
improve the process.
Moshood Isah
Media Officer | YIAGA AFRICA