Mutati leads COMESA election observer mission to Egypt

COMESA has deployed a short-term election observer mission to the second phase of parliamentary elections in Egypt to be held from the 22nd to the 23rf of November this year.

The COMESA delegation, arrived in Cairo, Egypt on Monday 16th November, and is led Lunte Member of Parliament Felix Mutati who a member of the COMESA Committee of Elders and who will join the team at a later date.

This is a continuation mission to the first phase of the elections which were held on 18 – 19 October and a re-run on 27 and 28 October 2015.

The 26-member delegation from COMESA which includes senior officials drawn from ministries of foreign affairs of COMESA Member States, representatives from the COMESA Electoral Management Forum, representative of civil society organizations accredited to COMESA, and staff from the COMESA Secretariat will be in the country until 6 December, 2015.

During this period it will observe the concluding stages of the pre-election activities, voting, vote counting and declaration of election results, and the immediate post-election period.

As part of its objectives, the delegation will consult electoral stakeholders that include political parties, security, the election management body, civil society and media, among others.

The delegation will also exchange views with the diplomatic community as well as with other election observers.

The observers will be deployed in various geographical areas to cover as much ground as possible beyond Cairo in order to have a balanced and objective view of the whole electioneering process.

The observation process will be guided primarily by the constitution and legal framework of Egypt, as read with relevant international and regional instruments including the COMESA Guidelines on Election Observation.

The COMESA Electoral Observation Mission welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the democratic process in the Arab Republic of Egypt and looks forward to the cooperation of all Egyptians.

This is according to a statement made available to Qfm News by the COMESA Secretariat.