April 19, 2007

Monitoring the Nigerian elections by mobile phones

nigeriawk_elect1.jpg The Network of Mobile Election Monitors of Nigeria (NMEM) have recently implemented kiwanja's FrontlineSMS system and will be using the software from Saturday 21st April to monitor the country's Presidential Elections.

Volunteer observers will text their observations into the FrontlineSMS hub where the election process will be monitored. kiwanja has provided free technical support and advice, as well as use of the software, to the Nigerian NGO.

The purpose of this project is to involve over 30million Nigeria armed with mobile phones in the all important process of electing the next president of Nigeria and to offer them a platform to ensure impartial elections.

According to an article in AllAfrica, acute distrust of the electoral process by the parties is another hindrance to value-adding election monitoring.

Picture above left from PCR Project, provided by Vladimir Pran, National Democratic Institute

emily | 8:14 AM | SMS and Politics | Add this this entry to your del.icio.us bookmarks. Digg This Technorati search results for this Entry
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