By Peter Ochieng
Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta is currently leading theAfrican Union Election Observer Mission (AUEOM) in South Africa. South Africans will go the polls on Wednesday next week.
They will elect a new National Assembly, as well as the provincial legislature in each of the nine provinces, after which the President will be elected by members of the National Assembly.
The incumbent Cyril Ramaphosa of ANC, John Steenhuisen and EFF’s Julius Malema are the presidential candidates.
Kenyatta served as Kenya’s 4th President for two terms, from 2013 2022. His team was given ago ahead to pitch tent in South Africa by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, to assess and report on the conduct of this election.
This, is after members of the mission were invited by the government of South Africa and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
The AUEOM is led by Kenyatta and is comprised of 60 short-term observers (STOs) drawn from ambassadors accredited to the African Union, officials of election management bodies, members of African civil society organizations, African election experts, human rights specialists, gender and media experts, and representatives of youth organizations.
The observers are drawn from 24 countries which include Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“The AUEOM will base its assessment on the legal framework governing elections in the Republic of South Africa and the OAU/AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections, the standards and obligations stipulated in the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG), and the International Declaration of Principles (DoP) for International Election Observation among others,” said the African Union in a statemen.
“The Mission will release its preliminary findings and recommendations on the conduct of the elections on 31 May 2024 in a press conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. A final and comprehensive report will be released within two months from the date of announcement of final election results and will be posted on the AU Commission website.”