18 Oct 2020

Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, Dr Lemogang Kwape, says the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted normal practice.

The minister, who is heading the SADC Electoral Stakeholders’ Consultations and Elections Follow-Ups to the 2020 National Assembly and Presidential Elections in Seychelles and the General Elections in Tanzania, said the two SADC states would be holding elections this month.

Launching the SADC virtual elections observer mission on Friday, Dr Kwape said, ‘iIn this context and on behalf of the President of the Republic of Botswana Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi, who is also chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, it is my honour to announce the launch of the SADC virtual engagements with electoral stakeholders in the republic of Seychelles and in republic of Tanzania.’

He said through the virtual engagements, SADC would remain seized with the electoral processes of the two member states and would be able to obtain the views of electoral stakeholders on the conduct of the elections.

“The virtual engagements will enable SADC to identify areas of continued support in the consolidation of democracy and to gather information to inform other post-election interventions. From October 22 to 24, 2020, the people of Seychelles will participate in their national assembly and presidential elections.

On October 28, the people of the Tanzania will be voting in their general elections,” said Dr Kwape.

He said under normal circumstances, SADC Electoral Observation Missions (SEOMs) would have been deployed to the two SADC states.

“The missions would by now, be physically engaging with various stakeholders, including electoral authorities, political parties, community leaders, faith-based organizations, civil society and the media. This is always done with a view to assess the readiness and conduct of the electoral processes, in order to observe the actual voting, counting, and declaration of the election results,” he said.

Dr Kwape said SADC states, like all countries around the world, put in place measures to contain the rapid spread of the coronavirus, which as a result of the regional scenario and the need to safeguard public health have negatively affected the region’s ability to physically deploy electoral observation missions in a conventional manner.

Nonetheless, Dr Kwape said in an effort to uphold democratic principles and to remain in solidarity with member states, SADC will hold the virtual consultations with electoral stakeholders in respective countries, and closely follow-up the electoral processes.

He said the approach was part of the continued efforts towards upholding democratic principles despite prevailing challenges hampering physical election observation on the ground.
Even though SADC will not physically deploy election observation missions to the two countries, Dr Kwape said the values enshrined in the SADC Principles and Guidelines

Governing Democratic Elections (2015) remain valid as a source of guidance. As such, Dr Kwape said the virtual engagements were preceded by pre-election consultations with electoral stakeholders in the Republic of Seychelles and the United Republic of Tanzania.

“These were conducted by the SADC Electoral Advisory Council (SEAC) in August 2020, in accordance with the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections,” he said.

He said the SEAC has sought the views of electoral stakeholders regarding the level of preparedness for the countries to hold the elections, which included the prevailing political and security situations and the performance of Election Management Bodies (EMBs).

“Council members assessed implementation of SEOM’s previous recommendations. Pre-election consultations concluded that both Seychelles and Tanzania were prepared to hold their respective elections in October 2020,” he added. ENDS