Transparency In Action Yiaga Africa Launches Largest Election Monitoring For November’s Ondo Polls

Transparency In Action Yiaga Africa Launches Largest Election Monitoring For November’s Ondo Polls

Yiaga Africa, a non-governmental organization under its “Watch the Vote” initiative, announced on Tuesday that it will deploy over 324 observers for the upcoming Ondo State governorship election on November 16.…….CONTINUE READING 

According to the group, observers will be assigned to a representative random sample of 300 polling units across all local government areas within Ondo State.

At a stakeholders’ meeting held in Akure, Ondo State, Yiaga Africa’s Election Programme Manager, Mr. James Paul, shared the details of the deployment plan. He noted, “For the 2024 Ondo State governorship election, #Watching The Vote will deploy observers to a representative random sample of 300 polling units in every local government in Ondo.”

Paul added that the organization will also station 24 mobile observers in all 18 local government areas. Equipped with mobile phones, these observers will relay real-time observation reports to Yiaga Africa’s WTV Data Centre in Benin through coded text messages.

The 300 WTV Polling Unit Observers will monitor accreditation, voting, and the counting processes on election day, with each receiving a structured checklist and a critical incident form to standardize observations.

The observers will also report on the opening of polling units, accreditation, voting, counting, and the announcement of results. They will submit official results announced by election officials at polling units to the WTV Data Centre.

The group will use an advanced election-day observation technique during the poll, deploying citizen observers to a randomly selected sample of polling units to gather data on the conduct of the election and results at the unit level.

This method allows the observers to release projected estimates and verify the results declared by the election management body. Using SMS reports sent to a central database, WTV can analyze and share insights on the election’s progress almost in real-time.

In explaining Yiaga Africa’s mission, Paul said the organization promotes democracy, governance, and development across Africa through advocacy, research, and capacity building, focusing on inclusion, transparency, and accountability. The organization monitored the Edo State governorship election held on September 21, 2024.