During the first half of November, the General Assembly of the Association of African Electoral Authorities (AAEA) was held in Maputo, hosted by the Electoral National Commission (CNE) of Mozambique, within the context of the 7th Annual Continental Forum of Election Management Bodies (EMBs). Both the assembly and the forum were supported by the African Union and the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES), as part of the Pro-Electoral Integrity project, financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, through the Italian – African Peace Facility (IAPF) instrument.
Almost 130 people participated in the 7th Annual EMBs Forum, included chairpersons and other senior officials of EMBs from all AU Member States, the AUC Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security, members of the Association of African Electoral Authorities, Regional Economic Communities networks of EMBs, International Organizations in the electoral field, Civil Society Organizations and academia working in the elections field and another key democratic governance actors.
The theme of the forum, “Building resilience of election management bodies to safeguard democracy in Africa” with the goal to reflect the current complexity of the political, sociocultural, technological, economic, legal, security and ecological situations. These contexts constitute a significant challenge for EMBs to organize free, transparent and democratic elections in accordance with both international and continental standards.
Ana Comoana, Mozambique’s Minister of State Administration and Public Service officially opened the forum after the welcome remarks delivered by Reverend Carlos Matsinhe, Chairperson of Mozambique’s National Electoral Commission and the statement by Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security.
The discussion revolved around 7 main thematic areas, namely:
- Diagnosing the challenge of EMBs resilience in Africa;
- Safeguarding institutional longevity: confronting the problem of high turnover of EMB leadership in Africa;
- Promoting gender in EMB leadership: experiences of women chairpersons of EMBs in Africa.
- Overcoming economic challenges through sustainable financing of EMBs.
- Developing sustainable risk-mitigation strategies for addressing the ecological impact on election management.
- Addressing electoral security and cyber-security to safeguard electoral integrity in Africa.
- Let’s talk elections 2023: challenges ahead and exploring strategies to foster resilience in election management