National Assembly Election 2016: The role and importance of the Africa international observer missions |14 September 2016

The SADC observer mission

The AU all-woman observer mission

The international election observer missions at the 2016 National Assembly election in Seychelles on Monday released their preliminary reports on the election held from September 8-10, 2016.

The observers were from the SADC Election Observation Mission (SEOM); the all- woman African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) and the Electoral Commission Forum of SADC Countries (ECF-SADC).

They described the process as credible, peaceful, transparent; a testimony of the efficacy of multiparty democracy and another milestone in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region’s progress.

The preliminary report also noted the process has generally remained peaceful during the pre-election and voting periods and that the voters freely exercised their civil and political rights. The all-female AUEOM consisting of 29 short-term observers drawn from 21 African countries, was led by Fatuma Ndangiza, former chairperson of the African Peer Review Panel of Eminent Persons. They even described the election process as festive.

But both missions suggested areas of improvements especially the Electoral Commission of Seychelles and the voters’ register, which they said need urgent attention for credibility and trust.

The missions were invited by the Electoral Commission of Seychelles. The SADC mission was launched on September 2 at the Avani Hotel & Spa at Barbarons, followed by the deployment of observers to all 25 electoral districts while the AUEOM’s launch took place on September 5 at the same venue.

The AU all-woman observers created history and made news by raising awareness on women empowerment as they visited the different polling stations to observe the election processes all over the national territory. They paid particular attention on how gender issues were integrated in the whole electoral process.

The AU observer mission is based on relevant AU instruments such as the 2007 African Charter, on democracy elections and governance; the 2002 AU-OAU Declaration on the Principles Governing the Democratic Relations in Africa and the 2002 AU guidelines for election observation and monitoring missions.

The ECF-SADC head of mission, Commissioner Bongani Finca, gave an overview of his mission before releasing the preliminary report.

The ECF-SADC was launched on July 16, 1998 and comprises fifteen Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of the SADC member states. The mandate of ECF-SADC as outlined in its constitution is primarily to strengthen co-operation among commissions in the SADC region and to promote conditions for credible and transparent elections in that region.

The ECF-SADC views election observation as an important component of promoting democratic elections and consolidating democracy in the SADC region, hence its involvement.

Through election observation, the ECF-SADC strives to assist fellow EMBs to identify areas needing improvement in respect of election administration and management and this also serves as an opportunity for mutual learning and promotion of best practices across the SADC region.

“The mission encourages the Electoral Commission of Seychelles to consider the advisability of participating actively in these programmes,” said Mr Finca, adding the EC has not benefitted from the lessons learned as they have not been participating in those observation programmes.

ECF-SADC election observation missions are guided by the Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation (PEMMO) (2003) in the SADC region; the revises SADC Principles and Guidelines for Governing Democratic Elections in the SADC Region (2015) and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (2004).

Dr Augustine Mahiga (MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation of the United Republic of Tanzania and head of SEOM), talked more on the above-mentioned revised principles. He was appointed on the Seychelles mission by the chairperson of the SADC organ on Politics Defence and Security Cooperation, Dr John Pombe Joseph Magufuli, who is also the President of the United Republic of Tanzania.

“It gives me great pleasure to note that the SADC region continues to boldly take strides towards consolidating democracy and good governance through a process of peer learning and exchange which has, inter alia, resulted in the development of an enhanced set of principles and guidelines governing democratic elections,” he said in his introductory speech.

He explained considerable efforts were invested in the development of that revised framework which enables SADC to not only assess pre-election, election and post-election processes for much longer periods but also provides for timely post-election reviews with stakeholders conducted by the SADC Electoral Advisory Council. The council’s mandate is to ensure the region adheres to the revised SADC principles to the extent possible.

Therefore the SADC Electoral Observation Mission deployment in Seychelles was preceded by its advisory council’s Goodwill and Pre-election Assessment mission, which was to evaluate the level of preparedness of the Seychelles to hold these National Assembly elections.

“In this regard, the Mission established that the political atmosphere and the security environment were generally conducive for holding peaceful elections,” said Dr Mahiga.

The post-election reviews will ensure the findings of the SADC Electoral Observation Mission are not only channeled to the member state and the electoral commission, but also disseminated and discussed with all stakeholders to find solutions in addressing any challenges that may arise and to also enable the region to share good practices with member states holding elections.