The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM) has commenced a four-day training for its observers in Lilongwe ahead of Malawi elections to be held on 16 September.
Malawi Ministry of Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary responsible for Legal Affairs, Mary Kachale said the training for Sadc Observers is very important as it will familiarize the team with Sadc principles and guidelines on elections as well as the Malawi constitution, legal framework and the environment they will be working on.
"This will ensure that observers interface very well with people on the ground as they will conduct their mission to observe the elections," she said.
Kachale therefore appealed to the team to work with impartiality throughout their mission to Malawi.
Sadc Secretariate Elections Advisor Council member, Leonard Sesa commended Malawi for following Sadc guideline on elections.
"It is upon each and every Sadc member that they invite Sadc to observe the elections," he said.
Sesa said Malawi elections will among others be observed by other countries in the Sadc region to ensure there is free, fair and credible elections.
However, at the end of the training, members will sign a Code of conduct before they are deployed to districts.
The training has been facilitated by Sadc Secretariate in conjunction with Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa ( EISA).
