The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will be decentralizing the Continuous Voters registration (CVR) to ward Registration centers in Ekiti State from the 11th -18th of April 2018, as part of its ongoing nationwide CVR exercise. The CVR will be conducted in the 177 wards in Ekiti state in preparation for the July Election in the State. The exercise is designed to update the voter register with the registration of citizens who turned 18 after the last voter registration exercise; or those who couldn’t register in previous CVR exercises. Uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) will be distributed during the exercise as well issues relating to transfer of registered voters, lost, damaged or omitted PVCs will be addressed during the exercise.
YIAGA Africa will be deploying its Watching The Vote (WTV) citizen observers to observe the Continuous Voter Registration exercise. The objectives of the observation include; to assess the process of the CVR, to verify the functionality of the Direct Data Capturing (DDC) machine and to enhance the compliance of INEC to electoral guidelines.
For the CVR in Ekiti, YIAGA WTV is deploying 24 accredited citizen observers to rotationally observe the process in each of the 16 Local Government areas, to cover at least 72 wards out of the 177 wards in the State where the CVR exercise will be conducted in the State. The WTV observers will observe at their daily assigned registration wards from the arrival and opening of the registration centers to the closing of registration on assigned days during the CVR exercise. Assigned days for observation include 11th, 14th and 16th of April 2018. Observers will also report on any critical incident they witness or are reported to them.
All WTV observers will send in their observation reports via coded text message using their mobile phones. The reports will be received directly into a sophisticated database located at the YIAGA Africa’s WTV Data Centre in Abuja for review, verification and analysis.
YIAGA-WTV will issue interim reports on the process based on reports from its observers, this will be shared with the public, Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), political parties, civic society organizations and other stakeholders.
It can be recalled that YIAGA Africa’s WTV Observed the CVR Process ahead of Anambra November 2017 Governorship Elections issuing reports and recommendation while also observing the and verifying the Elections proper. ( see Verification statement) . YIAGA Africa also observed the first quarter of the CVR process in selected States with its findings shared and also released report from the observation of the Claims, Display and Objection process bringing the CVR exercise in the first quarter of 2018 to an end.
YIAGA Africa’s #WatchingTheVote will be deploying sophisticated information technology for reporting and assessment of the CVR process. Using this methodology, YIAGA will provide the most timely and accurate information on the conduct of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), Permanent Voter Card (PVC) distribution and Transfer of Registered Voters.
#WatchingTheVote (WTV) is a citizen-led election observation initiative 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.
