Yiaga Africa’s election team on Thursday met to review the prevailing realities of COVID-19 and the security situation in some parts of the southeast as the team prepare for the observation of the Anambra Governorship elections. During the meeting which was held in Abuja, the election team also engaged its technical partners in a view to strategize on its upcoming election observation activities in line with prevailing realities.
During the meeting, Elections Manager, Paul James said that, reviewing the political and economic situation of Anambra state will enable the team to plan and strategise on recruitment of polling unit observers and observation of the pre-election environment. According to him, in its effort to provide information on the entire process, Yiaga Africa’s Watching The Vote will be observing pre-election activities, election day, and post-election engagement.
He said Yiaga Africa will also be observing adherence to COVID-19 guidelines as political parties commence their campaigns ahead of the November 6th, Governorship election. He also said the team will also observe and provide information on government response to the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of the elections. Thus, “this meeting will also enable the team to review its methodology in line with current realities of COVID-19 and security threats in Anambra state”, he said.
In the coming days, Yiaga Africa will be training its Local Government Supervisors who will serve as pre-election observers ahead of the election. The supervisors representing the 21 Local Government Areas in the state will be trained on how to observe and report election-related issues like voter education, campaigns, violence monitoring amongst others. LGA supervisors will also receive criteria for recruiting polling unit observers.
