ECOWAS, INEC, others move for peaceful polls

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP) have launched a mechanism to mitigate violence during the 2019 general elections.

Named Electoral Violence Monitoring, Analysis and Mitigation (EMAM) project and commissioned at INEC headquarters in Abuja, the move is to facilitate and support local and national response architectures to prevent or mitigate identified threats to the peaceful conduct of the polls.

Representative of ECOWAS’ Early Warning Directorate, Maimouna Konate, noted that WANEP’s National Early Warning Systems (NEWS) managers across the region form a part of the sub-regional body’s field monitors.

WANEP’s Executive Director, Dr. Chukwuemeka Eze, stressed the importance of free, fair and credible elections on the African continent.