Attahiru M. Jega The growing importance of stakeholders in the electoral process necessitates an important distinction between election management and election governance. I use the term election management sensu stricto[in a strict sense] to designate the technical, largely routine application of pre-established rules to the organization of people and materials to conduct an election. This is clearly the sphere of a technical-professional corps of election managers to be found in the EMBs and other statutory agencies. On the other hand, I use the term election governance sensu lato[in a broad sense] to mean the application of a dominant regime, defined by citizens as stakeholders in the democratic process, to the conduct of elections. This is the civic sphere, the sphere of stakeholders in the electoral process. Election governance is becoming very central to the work of electoral commissions like INEC because of the rising involvement of electoral stakeholders. In Nigeria, the stakeholders include CSOs that observe elections, conduct voter and civic education, monitor legal issues in the electoral process, monitor security agencies, and conduct research on elections, work on political finance or monitor political parties. In addition, there are several community organizations, youth organizations, women organizations, organizations of persons living with disability and faith based organizations that perform sundry functions, particularly mobilization and education, in the electoral process. Also, the media and political parties play prominent roles in the electoral process. Finally, stakeholders in the electoral process increasingly include international development partners, bilateral and multilateral agencies that provide technical and financial support to the electoral process. 28 Stakeholders and the Electoral Process in Nigeria: Review of 2011 Elections and Projections for 2015 The functions of these stakeholders in the electoral process include: a. Mobilization of citizens to participate by registering and voting on Election Day, as well as protecting their mandates. b. Oversight of the electoral process. c. Support for the process through working with the EMBs. d. Making demands for improvements from the EMBs, other statutory agencies and political parties. e. Spreading certain values and expectations that are supportive of the democratic and electoral processes. f. Information dissemination. g. Gate keeping functions. h. Rule-setting and norm-setting. i. Conflict management. j. Driving electoral reforms. EMBs Stakerholders Election Management Election Governance Civic Engagement Figure: The Space of Election Governance 29