An election monitoring group, Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement, (YIAGA), Africa, said that it had commenced its observation of the pre-election environment in Anambra State, ahead of November 6, 2021 governorship election in the state.
A press statement endorsed by the Director of Programmes, Cynthia Mbamalu, which was made available to Tribune Online in Awka, stated that the exercise commenced with its Watching The Vote (WTV) project, a citizens’ election observation project, which tracks and reports pre-election activities for immediate response by stakeholders.
The release said, “Through the Pre-Election observation, YIAGA Africa will track the efficacy of the role of major election stakeholders, early warning signs and any form of incidents that can hinder the successful conduct of the elections.
“This will enable us to share this information with recommendations to respective stakeholders in the Anambra Election. Pre-elections observation findings will also be shared with the public via various channels of communication including social media.
“The pre-election observation builds on the observation of the political party primaries and the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise in the state. The WatchingTheVote project has trained and deployed Long Term Observers (LTOs) across all 21 local government areas of the state.
“As part of its comprehensive pre-election observation efforts, the WTV Pre-Election observers will observe issues related to the activities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“This includes recruitment and training of ad-hoc personnel, identification of polling units, meeting with stakeholders, voter education and information campaigns to the collection and distribution of Permanent Voters Card.
“The pre-election observation also includes activities relating to security agencies and incidents capable of undermining the electoral process; voter information campaigns by National Orientation Agency (NOA) and other Civil Society Organisations,” the group said.
It added that the observers would also report issues relating to hate speeches, intimidation and harassment of stakeholders, attacks on media or INEC officials, government restrictions on political activities or unjustifiable military deployments into the state.
“YIAGA Africa will verify and report this information to relevant authorities for proper action,” it said.
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