ANGOLA- In preparation of Angola’s General Elections, ‘Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR),’ has reportedly ‘arrived Luanda in Angola against the Elections scheduled to hold on the 23rd of August.
The Observation Mission, according to directives from the ICGLR, ‘is mandated to observe elections in Member States and to assess compliance with international standards, in particularly the ICGLR Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance and to give a preliminary statement as to whether the elections are peaceful, free, fair and transparent as per ICGLR mandate.’
To ascertain the readiness of Angola for the coming election, ‘the Observers will meet the Electoral Commission, Government Authorities, Political Parties and other stakeholders to assess the level of preparedness and challenges facing to compliance with the electoral law and guidelines.
Following the observation, observers are expected to submit a comprehensive ‘report on the voting process’ which according to plans will ‘be shared with the authorities and the Regional Inter-Ministerial Committee of the ICGLR as stipulated in the Protocol.’ Observers are equally expected ‘to draw up recommendations for improvements of such processes in the ICGLR Member States and advise the Secretariat on actions to be conducted in the future.’
For maximum following of the exercise, Observers shall be deployed to ‘different parts of the country and collaborate with other Local and International observers to cover a larger area which will give a broader picture of how elections were conducted.
According to details provided, ‘the ICGLR Electoral Observation Mission for Angola elections is composed of delegates from Republic of Sudan, Republic of Rwanda, Republic of Kenya, DRC and Republic of Burundi.’ This composition is made to make the delegation as much inclusive as it could be.
