Ahead of the July 14th Governorship Elections in Ekiti State, YIAGA Africa’s Watching The Vote (WTV) will be deploying 500 stationary observers to 250 sampled Polling Units across the 16 Local Government Areas in the State with 24 mobile observers and 16 LGA collation observers. In order to ensure that this process is led by the people of Ekiti State, recruitment of observers is currently going on in each of the 16 LGAs in Ekiti State ahead of intensive training on Election Day observation and report to the YIAGA Ekiti State WTV Data Center which will be located in Ado-Ekiti.
YIAGA AFRICA will be observing the 2018 Ekiti by deploying the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) methodology which uses statistical principles, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to provide systematic data on the quality of Election Day processes while also verifying the accuracy of the official results. This will involve recruiting, training and deploying accredited observers to specifically assigned polling units based on our sample size in each local government areas in the states.
On Election Day, observers will be deployed to their assigned Polling Unit, to observe arrival of INEC Officials, deployment of election materials, commencement of accreditation and voting, sorting, counting and declaration of results from Polling Units. Observers will complete a specialized checklist and send the report via coded text message to the WTV Database. The system will analyze the data from Polling Units and the finding will be shared with the public and election stakeholders. Using this methodology, YIAGA will provide the most timely and accurate information on the conduct of the Ekiti Governorship Elections and will also be verifying the accuracy of the elections result.
As an independent citizen led observer group, YIAGA AFRICA is committed to credible elections in Ekiti State and will be working with election stakeholders and the good people of Ekiti State to make votes count in the July 14th 2018 Election. In the 2014 Ekiti Governorship election, the PVT methodology was deployed and successfully verified the official result as released by INEC.
For the 2014 Governorship Election in Ekiti, the PVT had estimated the result for the PDP to fall within the range of 55.3% and 59.1% of the votes cast. This verified the official result as released by INEC which put the votes received by the PDP at 58.0% of the total votes cast. While the PVT estimated range for the APC was between 32.4% and 35.7% and the result as released by INEC put the votes received by APC at 34.4% of the total votes cast. For the Labour Party, the estimated range was between 4.7% to 6.3% of the total votes cast and the official result as released by INEC was 5.2% of the votes cast. The results for all contesting parties in the 2014 Election fell within the PVT estimated range. Accordingly, the PVT is the only election day methodology that can verify the accuracy of the official result as released by INEC.
In addition, having successfully observed and verified the November 2017 Governorship election in Anambra State and the Ondo 2016 Governorship Election, YIAGA’s Watching The Vote has put everything in place to ensure credible elections in Ekiti State as citizens get ready with their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) to vote on election day. With the WTV observers deployed at the polling units, the 24 mobile observers who will rove round the 16 LGA’s and the 16 collation observers who will observe at the LGA collation centres, YIAGA’s WTV will be able to provide credible and accurate information to citizens and stakeholders.
YIAGA AFRICA’s Watching The Vote is a comprehensive observation that also includes the observation of the Pre-election environment (PREO) and political party primaries and activities. Accordingly, YIAGA’s has deployed Long term observers in the 16 LGA’s to observe the pre-election environment. The primary goal of the WTV project is to promote credible, free, fair, and peaceful elections in Nigeria and beyond and to build citizen’s confidence in the electoral process.
#WatchingTheVote (WTV) is a citizen-led election observation initiative of YIAGA AFRICA aimed at enhancing the integrity of elections using technology and evidence-based research methodology tools for election observation. WTV is designed to promote credible elections and boost citizen’s confidence in the electoral process through the provision of citizen’s oversight on elections through the electoral cycle.
