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The European Union
(EU) yesterday formally launched its election monitoring team to
Nigeria ahead of the general elections billed for April, 2011.

Former Prime
Minister of Slovenia, and current member of the EU parliament, Alojz
Peterle, is leading the European Union Election Observation Mission to
monitor the conduct of the general polls in Nigeria. According to a
statement from the mission, over 120 observers from 27 member states as
well as Norway and Switzerland are to be deployed for the mission. A
team of nine election analysts from eight different EU countries
arrived Abuja March 1, to set up and coordinate the mission, and are to
be joined by a group of 52 long-term observers who will be deployed
across the country to observe the processes and report back to the
Abuja team.

Team’s commitment

At a press
conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Mr Peterle spoke of the team’s
commitment to neutrality and fairness in its evaluation of the poll’s
compliance with local and international electoral laws.

“We are not
professors here; we are not teachers here; we are partners,” he said.
“It is a privilege to lead the European Union Election Observation
Mission to Nigeria. I hope these elections will contribute to a
peaceful future of the country. It is important that citizens can
exercise their right to vote and candidates are able to campaign freely
in an inclusive democratic environment.” The mission is independent of
any EU institutions or member states and is expected to make public its
preliminary findings after the elections and then a final report – with
technical recommendations for future elections – to be published about
two months after the elections.

The EU’s election
observation mission to Nigeria during 2007 elections, joined other
local and international observers to roundly condemn the polls as one
of the country’s worst.

The Chief Observer
for the 2011 team, Mr Peterle said the EU has reached an agreement with
the federal government and the Independent National Electoral
Commission, guaranteeing its observer members freedom of movement and
access to all polling stations.

The team will meet
with government officials, candidates and representatives from the
political parties, civil society and the media.

They will also
assess all aspects of the process including the registration of voters
and candidates, the training of election staff, voter education,
campaign activities, the candidates and political parties, the media
coverage, the preparations for polling as well as complaint and appeal
process.