ISSUES IN ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSIONS AND DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD: NIGERIA IN PERSPECTIVE

This paper takes a critical look at the role of election observation missions in transitional democracies with particular reference to Nigeria. The paper acknowledged the increasing role of such missions in helping to stabilize modern day democracies, especially in Third world countries. This underscores the increasing interdependence of nations among one another in the management of political and economic affairs. The monitoring of elections by observation missions is guided by certain ethical code presented by the missions and enforced by government of the host countries. While this tends to limit the operational efficiency of observation missions, their reports over time have provided the basis for electoral reforms in Nigeria and in many other countries. The paper utilized mainly secondary data. The analysis of the data revealed, among other things, that observation missions need adequate security cover to carry out their functions freely without molestation, and that there is need for a harmonization of the reports of the various Election Monitoring Groups in order to have an incontrovertible report on an election. It is recommended that lasting democracy can be established only if far-reaching electoral reforms are carried out in the country with the collaborative efforts of election observation missions