Nigeria's Milestone Election: Assessing the Presidential Polls

Please join us for a discussion of Nigeria's recently-held presidential elections, which have set the stage for the first democratic transfer of power between parties in the country's history. Panelists Chris Fomunyoh, Gretchen Birkle, and Jennifer Cooke, all of whom recently returned from Nigeria where they served as international observers, will discuss the performance of the electoral commission, the efficacy of new approaches to curb potential electoral fraud, the role of civil society and security services, and the areas of greatest progress and challenge in the overall electoral process. Richard Klein will discuss domestic monitoring efforts, and in particular those of the Transition Monitoring Group, which provided independent verification of official results using its Quick Count methodology. The panel will discuss how the lessons learned from the March 28 polls might be applied to the upcoming gubernatorial elections scheduled for April 11, and to eventual preparations for subsequent national elections both in Nigeria and across Africa.

Featuring:

Chris Fomunyoh
Senior Associate and Regional Director for Central and West Africa
National Democratic Institute 

Gretchen Birkle
Regional Director for Africa
International Republican Institute

Richard Klein
Senior Adviser for Election Processes
National Democratic Institute

Jennifer Cooke
Director, Africa Program
CSIS