Electoral Risk Management Tools in West Africa

In  recent  years  the  African  continent,  and  the  West  African  subregion,  have  made  significant  progress  in  the  area  of  democratization. 

The  most  recent  example  of  this  progress is Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation and largest economy, which recently underwent a peaceful democratic transition of power following the March 2015 general  elections.  

Transitions  such  as  the  one  witnessed  in  Nigeria  are  becoming  increasingly  common  in  the  subregion, and are an indicator of the progress made with the democratization process in  a  subregion  that  before  the  1990s  had  experienced  three  decades  of  postcolonial  instability characterized by the recurrence of military coups and single party regimes.

Faced  with  these  challenges,  various  organizations  have  developed  tools  that  seek  to  reduce  risks  and  improve  the  integrity  of  elections.  However,  observation  of  their  concrete implementation in West Africa and some recent analyses of electoral processes confirm  the  need  for  better  coordination  and  harmonization  between  these  tools  in  order to improve their impact and the quality of elections in the region.

It is against this backdrop that International IDEA, OSIWA, UNDP/RSCA and SSRC/APN, in collaboration with the Government of Senegal and with the political support of  ECOWAS  and  the  African  Union  Commission  (AUC)  Department  of  Political  Affairs (DPA), organized this Strategic Meeting on Electoral Risk Management Tools.