Former President Goodluck Jonathan advised ECOWAS on Thursday in Monrovia to fully utilize technology in electoral processes in order to organize free and fair elections in member states.
Jonathan delivered the suggestion while addressing as one of the panelists at the ECOWAS Parliament’s ongoing First Extra-Ordinary Session.
The Communications Division of the Parliament quoted Jonathan as saying that citizens of the sub-region oftentimes lost confidence in their leaders who they believed to have manipulated the electoral system.
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“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 the board, you will find out that people can even vote from the comfort of their homes or in their cars.
“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,’’ he said.
