BUJUMBURA, Burundi, August 18, 2017/APO/ --

Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) arrived in Luanda, Angola for the country’s General Elections to be held on 23rd August, 2017. 

The Observation Mission 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. 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.  

At the end of the observation, the observers will be able to submit a report on the voting process to be shared with the authorities and the Regional Inter-Ministerial Committee of the ICGLR as stipulated in the Protocol. They will also 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.  

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.   

The ICGLR Observers will deploy in 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. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Conference on the Great Lakes Region.