In the context of the National Assembly Elections of the Republic of Mauritius 2024, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM) was officially launched, this morning, at the Caudan Arts Centre in Port-Louis, with the aim to observe the electoral process and gain a deeper understanding of the political and security situation.
The Former Chief Justice of the United Republic of Tanzania and Head of the SEOM, Mr Mohammed Chande Othman; Director of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Affairs of the SADC Secretariat, Professor Kula Ishmael Theletsane; Members of the Diplomatic Corps; and Observers from SADC Member States, were present at the launch.
In his remarks, Mr Othman underlined that the SADC observes elections in its Member States based on the Revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections (2021) to which all SADC Member States affirmed commitment to its implementation. The Principles and Guidelines, he stated, provide an objective and scientific methodology for observing elections to contribute to the consolidation of democracy in the region through key African Union instruments such as the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance of 2007, and the relevant United Nations (UN) Conventions.
He indicated that the SEOM observations will focus on the pre-election, election, and post-election periods including campaigns, voting day, process of counting the ballot papers, announcement of election results, and post-election environment. "It is essential that all stakeholders understand that the SEOM mandate is to determine the adherence of the Member State holding elections to the relevant provisions of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections", he said, while expressing his thanks to the Government of Mauritius for extending an invitation to the SADC to observe the National Assembly Elections scheduled for 10 November 2024.
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Mr Othman recalled that the SEOM commenced its work on 28 October 2024 to gather objective and impartial findings, based upon which the SEAC Pre-Election Assessment Goodwill Mission concluded that Mauritius is prepared to hold the National Assembly Elections as scheduled. The Constitution of the Republic of Mauritius, and set of relevant laws governing the elections are in line with national legal instruments that the SEOM will use to assess the conduct of the elections.
The SEOM, he observed, consists of 73 Personnel with 35 deployable observers from SADC Member States namely from United Republic of Tanzania, the Republic of Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the Kingdom of Eswatini. The Observers will be deployed to the ten administrative Districts of Mauritius, namely, Black River, Flacq, Grand Port, Moka, Pamplemousses, Plaines-Wilhems, Port-Louis, Rivière du Rempart, Savanne and Rodrigues, he said, adding that all the Constituencies will be covered accordingly.
He urged all registered voters to exercise their civic and political rights by turning up to cast their votes and elect leaders of their choice on 10th November 2024 and encouraged all stakeholders to ensure that these elections are conducted in a peaceful, free, fair, transparent, and credible atmosphere.
