The East African Community is pleased to announce the arrival of its Observer Mission for the Parliamentary Elections in the Republic of Rwanda scheduled to take place on 16th – 18th September 2013.
The Mission is in the country at the invitation of the Government of Rwanda and the National Electoral Commission. It is led by Hon. Musa Sirma, Former Minister for EAC Affair’s, Republic of Kenya and comprises 40 members drawn from the East African Legislative Assembly, Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs)’ Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and National Human Commissions from 4 EAC countries namely Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
The overall objective of the Mission is to promote democracy and governance in the respective EAC Partner States, which includes Rwanda. Specific objectives include:
- Assess whether the conditions exist for the conduct of parliamentary elections that allow the people of Rwanda to freely express their will;
- Assess and determine whether the elections are conducted in accordance with the constitutional and legal framework governing elections in Rwanda;
- Determine whether the outcome of the electoral process as a whole reflect the will of the people of Rwanda; and - Assess whether the elections meet the benchmarks set out in the 2002 Durban Declaration on the Principles
Governing Democratic Elections in Africa by the African Union, the EAC Principles of Election Monitoring and Observation
The Mission’s advance team arrived on 5th September 2013 followed by the rest of the Observers on 9th September 2013. The Missions will remain in the country until 20th September 2013.
The Members of the Mission are attending a pre-deployment training and holding consultative sessions with stakeholders from 10th – 13th September 2013. On 14th September 2013, teams will be deployed to all provinces and districts of Rwanda where they will continue interacting with stakeholders and observe the concluding stages of the election campaign. On polling days, Monday 16th to Wednesday 18th September 2013, the EAC observer teams will observe the voting and counting processes at the polling stations. On Thursday 19th 2013, all EAC teams will reconvene in Kigali for debriefing session, after which the Mission will issue an interim statement on its preliminary findings on the electoral process.
The EAC Election Observer Mission is committed to working closely with all the relevant stakeholders in Rwanda and other election observer groups. They will act in an impartial, objective and transparent manner at all stages of the electoral process.
Kenya’s Former Minister of EAC, Hon Musa Sirma makes arrival statement of the EOM as EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Political Federation Hon Charles Njoroge and Hon Abubakar Zein Abubakar EALA team leader looks on.
Group photo opportunity, members of EAC Election Observer.