Accra, Ghana//-The third Electoral Integrity in Africa Summit today opened in Accra with a strong call on African governments to safeguard electoral integrity from financial and digital threats.
The two-day summit, themed ‘Money, Technology & Civic Rights: Defending Electoral Integrity in Africa’,was organised by the African Election Observers Network (AfEONet) together with the Center for Democratic Development Ghana (CDD-Ghana) and the West Africa Election Observers Network.
The summit brought together election observers, civil society, and democracy experts to explore how to limit the misuse of money and technology in elections and identify practical solutions to safeguard electoral integrity from financial and digital threats.
In a welcome Address, Executive Director of CDD-Ghana, Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, noted that citizen election observers across Africa continue to protect democracy as civic space comes under pressure.
However, their work is becoming more challenging as the forces shaping elections extend far beyond what happens at the ballot box.
Democracy he acknowledged is also influenced by money and technology. When these forces are misused, elections become less about voters’ choices and more about who can afford to influence them.
