Jonathan leads EISA election mission to South Africa

The Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) mission to the 2024 general election in the Republic of South Africa has deployed a full-fledged International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) to the nine provinces across the country where they will observe the final stages of the campaigns, Special Voting and Election Day procedures.

The 34-member mission led by Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, former President of Nigeria, said it is optimistic that the election will further deepen South Africa’s democracy and reinforce the nation’s cherished ideas of freedom, peace, and unity.

A statement released by the organisation quoted Jonathan as saying that “the Institute considers the deployment of its IEOM as significant in contributing to building public confidence in the electoral process in South Africa.

“The Mission’s assessment of the electoral process will be guided by the principles and obligations set out in the 2007 African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG), the 2002 OAU/AU

“Declaration of the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa, the Declaration of Principles on International Election Observation (DoP) and the revised Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation (PEMMO) in the SADC region as well as the legal framework governing the elections in the Republic of South Africa.

“The observation will focus on the conduct of the elections in accordance with these guiding principles. To this end, the Mission will consult with the authorities of the country, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), political parties, independent candidates, representatives of civil society, and the media. It will also interact with other Observation Missions deployed in the country.

The statement also added that the mission has Mr. Baïdessou Soukolgue, EISA’s Executive Director as deputy head of the mission and others drawn from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Election Management Bodies (EMBs), and academia from across the continent.

It further noted that “the observers will be deployed to all nine provinces across the country where they will observe the final stages of the campaigns, Special Voting and Election Day procedures, including the opening of polls, voting, closing and the counting processes at polling stations.

“The EISA IEOM will issue a preliminary statement on its findings at a press conference on 31 May 2024. The Mission will remain in the country until 02 June 2024.”

Wealth Dickson Ominabo, Media Aide to Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan said the May 29, national and provincial elections in South Africa is the seventh general election since the end of the apartheid in 1994.

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