Local Perceptions and Media Representations of Election Observation in Africa

在非洲最近的几次选举中--最引人注目的是在肯尼亚2017年的选举中--有人提出了关于观察团的能力和偏袒的问题，以及关于非洲大陆和其他地方观察员的未来的问题。尽管观察员在发现和阻止某些类型的选举舞弊方面取得了一些成功，并在帮助在整个非洲推广基本选举技术方面发挥了核心作用，但最近的这些批评对观察员团体的可信度构成了重大风险。这个项目是及时的，因为它将在两个领域提高对选举观察的理解：第一，它将调查当地对与选举观察任务有关的一系列问题的看法。尽管选举观察团东道国的公民是选举观察的主要预期受益者之一，但他们的观点在学术文献中通常被忽视。为了弥补这一差距，该项目将加深对东道国人民如何评价国际和国内选举观察倡议的目标、业绩和方法的理解。这些调查结果将引起观察员团体的特别兴趣，因为当地的看法对选举观察员的可信度问题至关重要--最终是他们有效开展工作的能力。它们还将具有更广泛的重要性，因为它们将使非精英非洲人的观点在关于选举观察专题的学术和政策辩论中得到更好的代表，目前这些辩论主要由欧洲和北美的观点主导。第二，该项目将调查选举观察团产生的信息和与之有关的信息如何通过传统媒体和社交媒体传播，以及如何在这一过程中歪曲信息。它将考虑在当前政治气候下，虚假信息和政客的行动对选举观察的影响。迄今为止，学术文献对这一专题的关注也很少，尽管在最近的选举期间，在各种形式的媒体上经常歪曲观察团及其说法。为了这个项目的目的，我们选择了三个国家的案例研究；我们将在坦桑尼亚、赞比亚和冈比亚的全国选举前后进行研究。该项目将采用混合方法，以定性方法为辅，辅以旨在用一些定量数据支持我们的结论的调查内容。主要的研究方法将是焦点小组、小组访谈和对非精英公民的半结构化访谈相结合。这种方法的目的是征求当地对选举观察的看法，并调查人们如何获得关于观察团的信息。我们还将对记者和政界人士等关键线人进行更有针对性的采访，以更好地了解信息是如何传播的。该项目还将监测传统媒体和社交媒体对选举观察的报道。项目结果将通过循证政策建议与选举观察从业者分享。这些建议将提出在今后的选举观察团中改进通信战略的方法，以及如何使选举观察员的做法更好地符合东道国公民的偏好。这将产生长期效果，提高对观察团的信心，使它们更容易实现其目标。建议还将与为传统媒体工作的记者和编辑分享。他们将详细说明如何减少对观察团的报道中的错误陈述和误解。如果公民获得的选举信息质量有所提高，那么他们也将受益。

During several recent elections in Africa - most noticeably in Kenya's 2017 polls - questions have been raised about the competency and partiality of observation missions, and about the future of observation both on the continent and elsewhere. Despite observers having had some successes in detecting and deterring certain types of electoral fraud, and having played a central role in helping to spread basic election technologies across Africa, these recent criticisms pose a significant risk to the credibility of observer groups.This project is timely as it will improve understandings, for both academics and practitioners, of election observation in two areas: Firstly, it will investigate local perceptions on a range of issues relating to election observation missions. Despite the fact that citizens in the countries that host election observation missions are one of election observation's major intended beneficiaries, their views are generally overlooked in the academic literature. In addressing this gap, the project will develop understandings of how people in host countries evaluate the goals, performance, and methods of both international and domestic election observation initiatives. The findings will be of particular interest to observer groups, as local perceptions are central to the question of the credibility of election observers - and ultimately their ability to do their work effectively. They will also have a broader importance as they will allow for the views of non-elite Africans to be better represented in academic and policy debates on the topic of election observation, which are currently dominated by European and North American perspectives. Secondly, this project will investigate how information produced by, and relating to, election observation missions circulates via traditional and social media, as well as the ways in which it can be distorted through this process. It will consider the impact that disinformation and the actions of politicians have on election observation in the current political climate. The academic literature has, to date, also paid little attention to this topic despite the fact that, during recent elections, observation missions and their statements have often been misrepresented across various forms of media.For the purposes of this project, three country case studies have been selected; we will conduct research both before and after the national elections in Tanzania, Zambia and Gambia. The project will use a mixed methodology with a qualitative approach supplemented by a survey element designed to support our findings with some quantitative data. The primary research methods will be a combination of focus groups, group interviews and semi-structured interviews with non-elite citizens. This approach is designed to solicit local perceptions on election observation and to investigate how people obtain information about observation missions. We will also conduct more targeted interviews with key informants, such as journalists and politicians, to better understand how information circulates. The project will also monitor traditional and social media coverage of election observation.The project findings will be shared with election observation practitioners through evidence-based policy recommendations. These will suggest ways to improve communication strategies during future election observation missions, and how to better align the practices of election observers with the preferences of the citizens in the host countries. This will have the long-term effect of improving confidence in the observation missions, making it easier for them to achieve their objectives. Recommendations will also be shared with journalists and editors working for traditional media. They will detail how misrepresentations and misunderstandings in reporting on observation missions can be reduced. If the quality of information that citizens get on their elections improves, then they too will benefit.