EU mission wants Niger's electoral results displayed at polling stations, Internet

English.news.cn 2011-02-03

NIAMEY, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The electoral observer mission from the European Union (MOE EU) which is led by Santiago Fisas Ayxela has asked Niger to display the electoral results at polling stations and Internet, local media reported on Wednesday.

EU asked Niger's transitional authorities and the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) that in case of a presidential rerun, then results should be displayed at each polling station and posted on a special website.

The mission also called for proper training of electoral officials and requested that a specific time frame for contesting the electoral results be determined before the presidential run- off poll.

The mission has been in Niger since January 4 and it's comprized of 40 observers who come from 15 member states of the EU.

The objective of the MOE EU is to assess the conduct of the elections in accordance to Nigerien laws as well as in comparison to internationally accepted standards.

On the voting day, the MOE EU observers visited 426 out of the 20, 899 polling stations across the entire national territory with the exception of Agadez region for security purposes. They observed the voting exercise as well as the vote counting process.

The mission will remain in the country to monitor the post- election developments and especially the tallying of the results by CENI.

The EU mission is expected to publish its final report after about two months.

The mission revealed that despite the logistical challenges which led to 80 percent of the polling stations opening 30 minutes late, all the polling stations received the required electoral materials.

The mission concluded that the voting exercise was done in a calm and secure atmosphere.

Editor: Fang Yang