Institute of Election Management Services Africa (IEMSA) executive chair, Terry Tselane says Election observers are very important in an election process as they almost act like auditors.
Tselane says observers’ role is to check whether the electoral commission has followed generally accepted protocols and practices in order to come to a determination of whether the election was free and fair.
He further explains that the observers do not have power over the Electoral Commission but can serve as advisors. “Nobody can interfere with the role of the electoral commission. As observers serve an advisory role, so the commission can take their report into account but is not obliged to take the report because it is just an advisory structure.”
IEC Head of Commission services, Mlungisi Kelembe says amongst the many local observer bodies present for the November 1 local government elections, they have one international observer body – the Electoral Commissions Forum of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
“It consists of 18 members from the SADC countries.”
Kelembe says they do not deploy observers and have no idea where they will be stationed, but they only receive that information when they submit their reports. He says the SADC Observers will remain in the country until the third of November.
For more on the story, listen to the audio links below:
1- Observers’ role during elections
2- Free and fair election
