2023-11-25 09:15:33
A few hours before the publication of the provisional results of the first round of the presidential election, the Safidy election observatory insists and denounces, in a press release, “threats and intimidation” towards its observers, as part of the “observation of the first round of the 2023 presidential election”, which was held on November 16. In its preliminary electoral observation report, this observatory notably designated “certain polling station members and local authorities” as being the authors of these threats and intimidation.
The threats and intimidation would concern the refusal to grant minutes, the refusal of authorization to make observations in the minutes and the ban on observing in certain SRMVs.
During this election, Safidy mobilized 5,000 observers covering 880 municipalities, 119 districts spread across 23 regions, in accordance with the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) of December 20, 2022 which granted him approval to participate in observation of electoral operations in the country. He believes that “observers play a crucial role in promoting the transparency and impartiality of elections. The presence of election observers is essential to guarantee the fairness of the electoral process.”
“Despite our unwavering commitment to the transparency and integrity of the electoral process, incidents were reported in several localities, where our observers were victims of harassment, intimidation, even moral violence and threatened with reprisals,” underlines the communicated. Thus, this election observatory expresses its “deep concern about these recent cases of threats towards our observers deployed in the field”. For this body, these unacceptable behaviors compromise the credibility of the electoral process.
An appeal was then launched to “the competent authorities to take immediate measures to ensure the safety and serenity of our observers on the ground”, then to “all stakeholders to respect the fundamental right of election observers to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals.” Safidy “also calls on the international community to closely monitor the situation and strongly condemn any form of violence or intimidation against electoral observers.”
This observatory of the country’s political life was not gentle in its preliminary observation report of the first round of the presidential election. He notably reported “several irregularities” relating, among other things, to “illegible” electoral cards, and to the insufficiency and non-compliance with procedures for securing voting materials during their local transport. Added to this is a denunciation of the significant drop in the participation rate.
#Safidy #denounces #threats #intimidation #observers