Jonathan charges ECOWAS to deploy technology for elections in West Africa

Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday urged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to fully deploy technology for electoral processes in member states.

Jonathan made the call in his address at the ongoing First Extra Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Monrovia, Liberia.

The former Nigerian leader stressed that citizens of countries in West Africa have lost confident in their leaders over manipulation of the electoral process.

He said: “If full technology is deployed at all stages in the electoral process, elections will be free and fair and completely eliminate the manipulation and rigging of results.

“When technology is deployed across board, you will find out that people can even vote from the comfort of their homes or in their cars.

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“And by so doing, politicians will no longer have the opportunity to engage thugs and criminals to stuff ballot boxes, cause mayhem and disrupt the electoral process.

“If technology is deployed, African presidents who refuse to relinquish power even when they have lost election will find it difficult to manipulate the process.

“This is more so because it will be the prerogative of the people to choose to vote them out or allow them to continue in power.”

Jonathan also briefed the parliament on the outcomes of ECOWAS-backed mediation in Mali.

He said despite his team’s efforts to find a lasting solution to the political crisis in Mali, the military junta in the landlocked West African nation was still proving stubborn.

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