Praia, Nov. 14, 2024 (Lusa) - Cabo Verde's National Electoral Commission (CNE) has announced the creation of an electoral information verification unit as a pilot experiment in the context of the municipal vote on 1 December.
"We are working hard to respond to the challenges posed by social networks in terms of ensuring truthful and quality information," said Maria do Rosário Pereira, president of the CNE, at a news conference in Praia.
The aim, she explained, is for voters to be able to "participate consciously and make decisions based on truthful information."
The unit will operate on a Facebook page and will be especially alert to the information disseminated about the candidates for Cabo Verde's 22 municipalities, having automated mechanisms, triggered by keywords, among others, to follow and evaluate the information.
Whenever justified, the results of this evaluation will be published and certain publications can be labelled as true or not, as well as other classifications, for example, to warn that certain information is "out of context".
The unit will also have a Whatsapp number for complaints or for those who want to ask questions.
The new team will even be able to take steps with the social networks if it is necessary to remove a false publication, but this can take time and may not always be possible, explained Alfredo Pereira, a counsellor at the Communication Regulatory Authority (ARC).
"So what we're going to do is combat disinformation with information," in other words, to try to make sure that as much information as possible gets out, he added.
The experiment aims to lay the foundations for a verification unit that can operate permanently, beyond election periods, she said, a wish also expressed by the president of the CNE.
Around 352,000 voters are registered for the local elections on 1 December in the country's 22 municipalities, around 10,000 more than in the last elections, the presidential elections on 17 October 2021.
In the eighth and last municipal elections, on 25 October 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the governing Movement for Democracy (MpD) won in 14 councils, while the African Party for the Independence of Cabo Verde (PAICV) won in eight.
LFO/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
