—– Deploys 31 Long Term Observers
Ahead of the July 16th Osun Governorship election, Yiaga Africa has trained and deployed 31 Watching the Vote (WTV) Long Term Observers (LTOs) across all 30 Local Government Areas in the state to observe and provide information on the level of preparations and other pre-election activities by all election’s stakeholders in the state. The pre-election observation will include observing efforts by election stakeholders in educating and mobilising the voters ahead of the election to improve on the abysmally low turnout recorded in the 2018 elections.
Major institutions and stakeholders whose activities will be observed include the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), National Orientation Agency (NOA), Political Parties, Security Agencies. In addition, the involvement of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the electoral process will be observed. Also, as INEC concludes Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) in Osun State, Yiaga Africa’s observers will monitor the collection of Permanent Voters Card (PVC) across all LGAs including other voter education activities in preparation for the polls.
The Long-Term Observers have also been trained to track, monitor and report incidents of violence that may impact the elections across all the 30 LGAs. The violence monitoring will enable Yiaga Africa’s Watching the Vote Initiative to track early warning signs and escalate as necessary to prevent incidents that can hinder the successful conduct of the elections. In addition, WTV pre-elections observers will observe and report issues relating to hate speech, intimidation and harassment of any electoral stakeholder, women, youth and persons with disability and attacks on media or INEC officials. The LTOs will also report any incidents of government restrictions on political activities that may restrict equal participation in the process.
Yiaga Africa’s Pre-elections observation findings will be shared with the public via various mediums including social media and shared with respective institutions for required action. #WatchingTheVote is a comprehensive observation initiative that includes the observation of the pre-election environment, deployment.
