Press Release Nº113/2016

UNIÃO AFRICANA

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Directorate of Information and Communication

Press Release Nº113/2016

The AUC Chairperson approves the deployment of African Union Short Term Election Observation Missions to Djibouti and Chad.

Addis-Ababa, 5 April 2016: The Chairperson of the African Union Commission H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has authorized the deployment of the Short Term Electoral Observation Missions (AUEOM) for the Presidential Elections scheduled for 8 April 2016 in the Republic of Djibouti and on 10 April 2016 in the Republic of Chad.

The missions will be undertaken from 06 to 14 April 2016 and will be led respectively by:

 Djibouti : H.E. Soumana Sako, Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Mali  Chad : H.E. Diocounda Traoré, Former President of the Transition of the Republic of Mali

Both missions will be composed of 25 and 30 Short Term Observers (STOs) respectively from the Pan- African Parliament, the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) of the African Union, the electoral management bodies, civil society organizations, think tanks, media and academic institutions on the continent. The observers will be deployed in different constituencies in each country to monitor the electoral process and meet key election stakeholders: government officials and those in charge of elections, candidates and political parties, representatives of civil society and the media to ensure a critical evaluation of the elections.

Their mandate is to observe the elections in accordance with continental and international instruments namely the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the OAU/AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa, the African Union Guidelines for Election Observation and Monitoring Missions, the International Covenant on Civil Political Rights (ICCPR), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the 2005 Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation to which the AU is a signatory and the existing legal framework in the Republics of Djibouti and Chad.

The Missions will contribute to strengthening the democratic process in these countries through objective, impartial, independent observations of the election in accordance with the aforementioned standards and international and regional best practices.

For more information: Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@africa- union.org I Site internet: www.au.int I Addis-Ababa | Ethiopia

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Directorate of Information and Communication - African Union Commission E mail: [email protected]