The first large-scale election observation was of Zimbabwe's 1980 independence elections. Since then, election observation has become a regular worldwide feature and many international organisations, official agencies, and non-governmental organisations field observation teams. They all use similar methodologies, largely derived from the original 1980 model. A third of a century later, it may be time to consider whether the use of electoral observation has outlived its usefulness -or is itself

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... eing used to mask forms of electoral cheating. This paper considers five 21 st century African elections -in Kenya (2007) , Zimbabwe (2008, 2013 and 2018) and Zambia (2016), through the reflections of a pioneer of the 1980s observation prototype. Keywords: election observation, free and fair, peaceful and credible, plausible, algorithm PERSONAL NOTE This material was originally published in the EISA Journal of African Elections [https://www.eisa.org.za/pdf/JAE18.1Chan.pdf] and has been reproduced by kind permission. Re-use is subject to the publisher's terms and conditions.