February 2012 has been an
innovative year for Senegal and its political processes. The impatiently
awaited presidential elections have been monitored nationally and
internationally to secure a more just and free result, making sure that no
incidents were to be obstructing the democratic process. The not-for-profit
organisation One World in partnership with different international organisations
set up an innovative technological system that allowed monitoring the elections
in real time.
The project included a consortium
of officers and analysts collecting and monitoring data coming from different
regional polling stations on a national level. The analysed results were then
sent to the One World team, who from their London based office mapped the
results in real time. This innovative project clearly shows the potential
residing in simple communication tools, such as mobile phones. Indeed, the collected
data were sent to the UK by using a standard SMS code that could rapidly be
analysed and made public.
The mapping system was developed to
clearly and publicly show real-time statuses of each regional polling station
by using a colour-based coding system: green if the situation was good, shading
to red if there were problems reported. Problems could include organisational
or logistical issues, as well as incidents of violence, tension or potential
attempts to corrupt voters.
The success of this ground-breaking
technique was shown just few hours after the opening of the polls; where about
1021 polling stations were sending information in. As suggested by One World,
one of the greatest outcomes of this project has been the possibility to
measure the amount, capacity and location of well-functioning polling stations.
The election monitoring through
this system proved itself for both rounds of elections and enabled Senegal, as
well as the international public, to access the final results in real time. Therefore,
Wide World technologies not only have proved to be able to speed up the
electoral process, but also to ensure transparent and fair elections. Indeed real-time monitoring enabled to screen
and manipulate potential dysfunctions rapidly.
According to Senegalese citizens
the February 2012 elections represented the victory of democracy in Senegal.
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