Latest content: Promoting Democracy

Senior officials from six election management bodies have gathered in Malaysia for a programme aimed at boosting electoral democracy in Commonwealth Asia.

A Commonwealth election observation group has arrived in Windhoek, Namibia for the presidential and national assembly elections scheduled for this Wednesday, 27 November 2019.

Voting has begun in a referendum on the independence of Bougainville from Papua New Guinea, with a team from the Commonwealth deployed to observe the process.

Commonwealth experts have provided training to senior officials from 15 election management bodies (EMBs) in the Asia-Pacific region to help protect electoral processes from cybersecurity threats.

Next week, the Commonwealth Election Professionals Initiative Asia Training Event will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In this blog, Kele Lui talks about his experience of participating in the Pacific Training Event in September as Tokelau’s delegate, and why the programme is so valuable for Commonwealth election administrators.

The Commonwealth Observer Group has commended the people of Sri Lanka on a largely peaceful, credible and orderly election, but expressed concern that some groups experienced fear and intimidation. The Group stressed that a credible election must be inclusive, guaranteeing every citizen’s right to participate freely and safely in the process.

The Commonwealth will deploy a team to observe elections in Namibia, scheduled for 27 November 2019. Musa Mwenye, former Attorney General of Zambia, is leading the Group, which will observe the Presidential and National Assembly Elections.

Polling is under way in Sri Lanka's presidential election, with a Commonwealth team observing the process in six provinces. The 2019 presidential election is the eighth to be held in Sri Lanka and the first where no sitting president, prime minister or opposition leader is standing.

A group deployed by the Commonwealth to observe the presidential election in Sri Lanka has called on stakeholders to demonstrate commitment to a “peaceful, transparent, credible and inclusive” poll.

The Commonwealth is deploying a team to observe the presidential election in Sri Lanka. A 10-member Commonwealth Observer Group led by Prosper Bani, former Ghanaian minister of interior, will observe the polls which take place on 16 November.

The Commonwealth has partnered-up with the Malawi Centre for Multi-Party Democracy (CMD-M) for a workshop designed to advance women’s political party leadership, strategy, advocacy and engagement.

Community actors in Malawi are set to benefit from a special training programme aimed at enhancing local skills in dialogue and dispute resolution.

Malawian women in politics have been taking stock of their success in the May elections and brainstorming how to gain an even greater say in the running of their country.

Voting in Mozambique’s general elections was largely peaceful but with allegations of irregularities, according to the Commonwealth Observer Group (COG).

The leader of the Commonwealth team observing elections in Mozambique has condemned the killing of a man who headed a local observer group.

The Commonwealth will send a team to observe elections in Mozambique, which will take place on 15 October.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General has welcomed the release of Maurice Kamto, leader of the Mouvement pour la Rennaissance du Cameroun (MRC), and 102 members of the party on 4 October 2019.

Patricia Scotland, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, has welcomed an address by Paul Biya, the President of Cameroon, in which he launched a national dialogue aimed at addressing the current crisis in the Northwest and Southwest regions of his country.

Following a request made by the Government of Dominica jointly to the CARICOM Secretariat (CARICOM), the Commonwealth Secretariat and the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (GS/OAS), to assist in the country’s efforts with various aspects of electoral reform, the three organisations have agreed to partner in a Joint Special Mission to Dominica.

A project to enhance Commonwealth countries’ capacity in election cybersecurity is underway. A Commonwealth Guide on Election Cybersecurity is being developed to support Election Management Bodies (EMBs) to manage risks associated with the use of technologies in elections.

The Commonwealth observer group deployed to observe Maldives’ 2019 parliamentary elections has released its final report today. These were the first elections that a Commonwealth group observed since Maldives withdrew its membership in 2016.

The final report of the Commonwealth Observer Group to the Solomon Islands Nation General Election 2019 has been presented to the government, electoral commission and other stakeholders.

In its final report, the Commonwealth group observing Nigeria’s general elections of 23 February has concluded that the process was transparent and the result was credible.

A Commonwealth toolkit of journalistic techniques made a significant contribution to fair and balanced reporting of the general election in Malawi that took place last month.  That’s the conclusion of a monitoring report released by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA Malawi).  The report was presented to journalists at a seminar in Blantyre to evaluate the Commonwealth’s media project for the election.

The Malawi election result shows women are gaining ground in the country’s politics. This month’s tripartite elections saw female candidates increase their share of parliamentary seats from 16 per cent to 23 per cent.