KNOWLEDGE AND COMPLIANCE TO POLITICAL MEDIA MESSAGES ON 2019 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AMONG WOMEN IN SELECTED STATES IN SOUTHEAST NIGERIA
The Council of Europe’s Division of Elections and Civil Society (Directorate General of Democracy) provides member states with advice and technical assistance on various aspects of elections, such as the capacity building of electoral stakeholders and voter awareness.
In terms of capacity building, the Division of Elections and Civil Society collaborates closely with election commissions to ensure that election commissioners are familiar with national election regulations and that they respect voters’ rights when carrying out their duties. The division also works to strengthen the capacities of other relevant electoral stakeholders, such as the bodies in charge of overseeing campaign and political party financing (for example, Georgia’s State Audit Office) or media coverage of election campaigns (for example, the Republic of Moldova’s Audiovisual Coordination Council).
In this field, special emphasis is placed on strengthening the capacities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in charge of domestic election observation (for example, more than 5,000 domestic observers were trained ahead of Ukraine’s early presidential elections in 2014).
Furthermore, in order to ensure domestic observers’ access to information, an e-learning course with certification based on two handbooks on report writing techniques and international standards in elections has been made available to them.
The division also contributes to raising awareness of the importance of voting and running for office. It assists national election administrations in the development of voter education and information campaigns, with a particular emphasis on women, first-time voters, and members of national minorities (such as awareness-raising campaigns for first-time voters in Albania).
Furthermore, technical assistance work has been carried out in order to update the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe’s Recommendation Rec(2004)11 to member states on legal, operational, and technical standards for e-voting. The Committee of Ministers adopted a new recommendation on e-voting standards at the 1289th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies on June 14, 2017.
This new Recommendation, CM/Rec(2017)5, which replaces the previous Rec(2004)11, was created to ensure that electronic voting adheres to democratic election principles, and it is currently the only international standard on e-voting in existence.
The Council of Europe Electoral Laboratory (Elec Lab) focuses on the division’s research and thematic work in order to innovate and produce useful and relevant guidelines on a wide range of electoral issues, from primo voters and better representation of women to modern strategic planning.
Since 2019, the Division has carried out its assistance and support activities in accordance with the URSO (Useful, Relevant, Sustainable, and Owned) electoral cooperation methodology. In the near future, the URSO toolkit for strategic and cooperative planning will be available online and as an app. Its primary target audience consists of national electoral stakeholders who are constantly engaged in electoral reforms, particularly central electoral commissions.
Monitoring of election coverage in the media – A toolkit for civil society organizations
“The mass communications media provide most voters with information that is critical to their voting decision.” As a result, proper media behavior toward all political parties and candidates, as well as proper media behavior in presenting information relevant to electoral choices, are critical to achieving democratic elections.
Monitoring media conduct establishes whether this critical aspect of an election process contributes to or undermines the democratic nature of elections when done impartially, competently, and based on a credible methodology.
The amount of coverage of electoral subjects, the presence of news bias, the appropriateness of media access for political competitors, and the adequacy of information conveyed to voters through news, direct political messages, public information programming, and voter education announcements can all be measured through media monitoring.
Monitoring can identify flaws in media behavior in time for corrective action. Abuse of the power of the media to influence voter choices can also be documented, allowing the population and the international community to accurately characterize the true nature of the electoral process.”
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KNOWLEDGE AND COMPLAINCE TO POLITICAL MEDIA MESSAGES ON 2019 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AMONG WOMEN IN SELECTED STATES IN SOUTH EAST NIGERIA
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