ECOWAS to deploy youth observers for Nigeria’s 2027 general elections

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says it plans to deploy youth observers alongside traditional election observation missions to monitor Nigeria’s 2027 polls.   Serigne Ka, head of the ECOWAS electoral assistance division, said the plan is part of the organisation’s efforts to increase youth participation in electoral and political processes.   Ka spoke in Abuja at the fifth edition of the sectoral reflection series on elections and democracy organised by the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA) in collaboration with Legis360, according to a statement issued on Saturday.   The ECOWAS official said the initiative to deploy youth observation missions had already been successfully piloted in Côte d’Ivoire and replicated in the Republic of Benin.     He said ECOWAS would implement the same initiative in Cabo Verde’s November elections and The Gambia’s December polls.   “Definitely, we are not going to leave Nigeria out in January,” he added.   Ka urged political parties across the region to open up their structures to greater youth participation, saying young people remain significantly underrepresented in electoral and political processes despite constituting the majority of the population.     He said access to finance remained a major challenge, stressing that young people would find it difficult to participate meaningfully in politics without the resources needed to engage in the political process.   “There are many barriers. There are social and cultural barriers, and we have gender bias against women and girls, for instance. But I think the nerve of everything is finance,” he said.   “Unless young people can access finance, I don’t think they can do much about political participation.”   He noted that political parties also have a responsibility to create opportunities for young people to participate in their internal structures and processes. Ka said ECOWAS would continue to promote inclusivity but added that young people must also take responsibility for pushing for greater representation in political parties and electoral processes.   Ezenwa Nwagwu, executive director of PAACA, said mainstreaming young people into ECOWAS election observation was important in strengthening democratic participation and countering the attraction of authoritarian rule among some young people.   Nwagwu urged young people taking part in election observation missions to acquire sufficient knowledge of electoral laws and regulations, warning against treating elections as an activity without a governing framework.  

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says it will deploy youth observers alongside its traditional election observation missions to monitor Nigeria’s 2027 general elections. Serigne Ka, Head of the ECOWAS Electoral Assistance Division, disclosed this in Abuja at the fifth edition of the Sectoral Reflection Series on Elections and Democracy, organised by the […] The post 2027: ECOWAS To Deploy Youth Observers For Nigeria Polls appeared first on Information Nigeria.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says it will deploy youth observers alongside its traditional election observation missions to monitor Nigeria’s 2027 general elections. Serigne Ka, Head of the ECOWAS Electoral Assistance Division, disclosed this in Abuja at the fifth edition of the Sectoral Reflection Series on Elections and Democracy, organised by the […] The post 2027: ECOWAS to deploy youth observers for Nigeria polls appeared first on Vanguard News.