International Election Observer in African Democracy: Curse or Blessing?

The election observer is one of the stakeholders of the electoral process in Africa. The role of the international observers just like other players of the electoral process, is to ensure free, fair and credible election. This body mostly work hand in hand with civil society group/organization in order to ensure smooth conduct of election. Election observers have been seen as democracy police in Africa which has added value to the conduct and manner at which election is being managed in the society. Although, many studies have been conducted on both positive contribution and negative impact of the election observers into the system, but this study will juxtapose the two sides of a coin to examine whether the role of the observer is a blessing or curse to the development of Africa and its democratic consolidation. The study makes use of Normative Theory to explain the role and contribution of election observers to the democratic consolidation in Africa. The study is a qualitative, and it employs the use of secondary source of data to explain the pros and cons of the international election observers towards monitoring election that mostly usher-in the transition of power from one democratically elected leader to another in Afric