The European Union Election Observation Mission has disclosed that it would deploy about 100 observers across the country for the 2023 general elections.
The Chief Observer, EU EOM, Barry Andrews stated this during the launch of the EU EOM to Nigeria 2023, in Abuja on Monday.
Andrews, who is also a member of the European Union Parliament, said the EU EOM was deployed by the EU following an invitation from the Independent National Electoral Commission and it started its work on 11 January, 2023 with the arrival of a core team of 11 experts with competencies in various aspects of elections.
While disclosing that the EU is observing the Nigerian election for the seventh time since 1999, the Chief EU election Observer noted that for the first time in Nigeria, the mission has a dedicated Election Technology Analyst who would be assessing the use of technologies especially the verification of voters and the transmission of results.
He said, “The structure of our team is that we have the Chief Observer, Deputy Chief Observer and we have 11 in our core team and they have been here since January 11th. We have an election analyst, political analyst, media experts, social media and mainstream analysts. Just yesterday, 29 January, we deployed 40 long-term observers in 20 teams of two covering the 36 states across the country and we will rely on their observations and inputs from the data they were able to assemble and meeting from stakeholders in order to help us complete the work we are working on at the moment.
“We will be examining the implementation of the Electoral Act and all the changes that have taken place and the challenges that are peculiar to Nigeria. Each election environment has its own characteristics and we are cognisant of all those characteristics that affect the country. There are concerns relating to the new technology, full implementation of the Electoral Act and the work of INEC.
“We will also deploy short-term observers in the immediate running of election which would be locally recruited. We are very grateful for the cooperation, not just the EU delegations that are here but also, Canada, Norway, and Switzerland have contributed their short-time observers for this. In due course, we would have 100 observers that they will cover the election day itself. The 100 observers will observe the voting, counting, and tabulation procedures on 25 February and 11 March.”
The EU Observer team had earlier paid courtesy visits to the House of Representative Speaker, Rt. Hon, Femi Gbajabiamila, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).