28 Jul 2015

The Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC Countries (ECF-SADC) in partnership with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES)-Botswana Office will hold a two-day regional policy conference in Gaborone recently.

According to the ECF-SADC programme officer, Ms Hildah Modisane, said ECF and FES, had organised a series of policy advisory meetings as well as pre- and post-election consultations.

All events would be focused on issues related to electoral integrity, observation and management.

She said the aim of the seminar was to discuss practical approaches to improve the integrity of elections in the countries of the Southern African Development Community as well as isolate some of the most important problems, which became obvious during the past elections in the region.

The programme officer said countries in Southern Africa had invested in strengthening democratic governance, in particular the strengthening of electoral integrity as a critical component at the heart of democracy.

Ms Modisane said it was necessary to determine gaps and shortcomings, and evaluate the most effective types of strategic interventions to address common problems and improve the quality of elections.

She said the ECF/FES conference would involve a small group of about 50 policymakers, scholars and civil society actors from across Southern Africa and will encourage constructive dialogue on several interventions:

Such intervention would include application of SADC Electoral Guidelines: Strengthening and expanding electoral rights in the Guidelines, and improving methods to monitor the compliance of the Guidelines. Ends