Election management in democracies is a challenging task. The core of any functioning democracy is legitimacy. And the basic ingredient of legitimacy is based on the perception as to how far electoral processes have ensured free and fair elections, and how far democratic institutions have become more participatory and representative. This assumes imperative relevance, especially, when a crisis of trust and legitimacy of the institutions and of the leadership become pertinently pronounced.

The organizing credible and generally acceptable election has been a great challenge to major players in the Nigerian democratic setting. Public dissatisfaction has focused on the role of election administrators, political parties and security agencies, especially the police. Given the grave importance of the security component in elections, CLEEN Foundation has continued to give priority to election security management and policing of elections as critical areas for reforms to ensure preparedness of all relevant election stakeholders and to encourage the institutionalization of international best practices in election security management in accordance with democratic tenets. In this regard CLEEN continues to conduct studies to generate evidence base for the changes in law, policy and operational practices of critical election stakeholders required for more secure, safe and credible elections, build the capacity of security agencies involved in policing elections as well as monitoring the activities and conduct of such agencies to ensure compliance with best practices in this regard.