Southern Africa: Principles of election management, monitoring and observation

Southern Africa has made significant progress in the past decade in institutionalising democracy. This is reflected in a number of developments in SADC countries including the holding of successful multi-party elections in several of them in the past ten years. There is evidence of increased popular participation in governance, and dialogue between governments and stakeholders has taken root. Democratic institutions have been set up and a number of major constitutional, legal and administrative changes have been undertaken with the objective of consolidating and deepening democracy. Notwithstanding these achievements, major challenges remain. There are pockets of conflict in several countries in the region and there have been situations in which election results have not been acceptable to all parties involved, resulting, on occasion, in violence and instability. The draft Principles for Electoral Management, Monitoring and Observation were developed by a Task Team and are premised on the understanding that every country has its own political, legal, social and cultural peculiarities. It is expected that countries will adapt the document to their particular national situations.