ECCAS electoral commissions assess 10-year assistance

A three-day evaluation seminar kicked-off in Yaounde yesterday, May 25, 2016.

Presidents and representatives of independent elections management institutions as well as experts from member States of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) started meeting in Yaounde on May 25, 2016, to assess assistance they received from the institution's Elections Support Unit since 2005 to ensure credible polls in the sub-region.

While opening the three-day seminar yesterday, the Deputy Secretary General of ECCAS in charge of the Department of Human Integration, Peace, Security and Stability, Brigadier General Guy Pierre Garcia, underscored the need for international cooperation in a world called upon to share same values of democracy and establishment of the rule of law.

He urged participants to not only share electoral experiences, but also produce a balance sheet of the assistance furnished by ECCAS so that recommendations would guide more efficient actions in the future. The participants include representatives of the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States.

During the 13th Ordinary Session of the ECCAS Conference in Brazzaville, Congo, Heads of State and Governments adopted the Brazzaville Declaration on June 7, 2005, for assistance by ECCAS to electoral processes in member States. The Elections Support Unit was thus created in the General Secretariat to implement the institution's measures in electoral matters.