West African election observers form coalition

Eleven West African countries including Ghana have come together to form an institutionalized election observation group called West Africa Election Observers Network (WAEON).

WAEON, formed by the Citizens’ Election Observation Groups (CEOGs) from the West African sub-region, is  aimed at strengthening the effective participation in electoral processes in accordance with the Declaration of Global Principles for Non-partisan Election Observation and Monitoring by Citizen Organizations.

In a statement signed for and on behalf of WAEON by Mashood Erubami, Chairperson-Elect, Transitional Monitoring Group (TMG), Nigeria and copied to ghanabusinessnews.com said the Network is made up of independent, non-partisan and non-religious organizations.

“The network will provide technical and moral support to its member organizations in order to encourage non-partisan citizen election observation, champion electoral reforms and advocacy, and promote credible elections as a means of deepening electoral democracy in the sub-region”, the statement said.

Funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) would serve as WAEON’s secretariat.

The member organizations of WAEON include: Mouvement Burkinabé des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples (MBDHP), Burkina Faso; Convention de la Société Civile Ivoirienne (CSCI), Cote d’Ivoire; Coalition of Domestic Elections Observers (CODEO), Ghana; Consortium d’Observation des Elections (COE), Guinea.

Others includes Liberia Democratic Institute (LDI), Liberia; Appui au Processus Electoral au Mali (APEM), Mali; Association Nigérienne pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (ANDDH), Niger; Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), Nigeria; Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (RADDHO), Sénégal; National Election Watch (NEW), Sierra Leone; and Concertation Nationale de la Société Civile (CNSC), Togo.

By Ekow Quandzie