Guineans SMS on election issues
2010-06-28 19:45
Dakar - The US embassy in Guinea said on Monday more than 12 000 Guineans had used a novel SMS service to flag issues during the country's first free election, praised as having gone "extraordinarily well".
The high-tech monitoring campaign is the first of its kind and sought to increase transparency by allowing Guineans to assist in monitoring the historic election, the first democratic poll since independence from France in 1958.
"This was the largest response to an initiative of its kind anywhere in the world," Brett Bruen, spokesperson for ambassador Patricia Moller, told AFP in Dakar by telephone.
"What is particularly astonishing is that it took place here, where 80% of the population is illiterate. It was an unexpectedly overwhelming response," he said of the text message service.
Sunday's election generated widespread relief as it took place peacefully, despite several logistical problems.
The texts were reviewed by civil society observers and then forwarded to a website to be monitored by the public and the Independent National Electoral Commission (Ceni).
Before the election, Moller said this was the first time a government's election commission had agreed to use this tool as part of its election monitoring.
The website has different categories such as voting irregularities, vote tampering, bribing, errors in ballot papers, the presence of the army, as well as space for compliments.
Most of the complaints appeared to be about delays at polling stations, difficulties in voting due to problems with voter cards.
The ambassador praised the conduct of the elections.
"Based on the assessment from local and international observers and our own election missions, the US embassy believes the election to have gone extraordinarily well especially in the light of significant time and logistical challenges," she said in a statement.
The United States is the largest bilateral contributor to the election.