CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS AND ELECTION VIOLENCE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Civil Society Organizations are voluntary associations such as the NGOs, community-based organizations, professional associations, faith-based organizations, labour unions, youth groups, and advocacy networks that work to promote social, economic, and political development. Corroboratively, the study sought to ascertain whether the use of voter’s education and election monitoring by civil society organizations (CSOs) have helped in mitigating election violence in Sub-Saharan Africa with particular reference to Nigeria. The study’s theoretical thrust is anchored on the Group Theory of State. The sample size for the study consists of 292 registered members of the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) and the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) selected purposively using Taro Yamane Formula, whereas, the Simple Linear Regression (SLR) was used to test the null hypotheses at 5% error limit. The results revealed a concurrent significant influence of voters’ education and election monitoring by civil society organizations on election violence in Sub-Saharan Africa and particularly Nigeria. Based on the finding, it was recommended that civil society organizations should continuously train and mobile election observers prior to the election periods, as this will help to decentralize its operational scope to cover the rural areas; that there should be increased security and welfare for election monitors/observers in the field in order to guarantee their safety; and Civil society organizations should continuously engage in voters’ education especially by laying emphasis on fairness, peace, and equity as well as respect for election adjudication processes (electoral tribunals).