Addis Ababa, 15 August 2017: The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat has approved the deployment of an African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) to the general elections scheduled to place in the Republic of Angola on 23 August 2017. The African Union Short Term Election Observation Mission will be led by H.E Jose Maria Neves, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Cape Verde and comprises forty (40) election observers drawn from Members of the Permanent Representative Committee of the African Union, Pan African Parliament, Election Management Bodies, Civil Society Organizations and academia.
The African Union Elections Observation Mission draws its mandate from various African Union instruments, most importantly: the African Union Guidelines for Elections Observation and Monitoring Missions (2002); the OUA/AU Declaration on Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa (2002); African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (1981) and African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (2007), among others.

The objectives of the Mission are: to provide an accurate and impartial reporting or assessment of the quality of the 23rd August 2017 general elections in the Republic of Angola, including the degree to which the conduct of the elections meets regional, continental and international standards for democratic elections; to offer recommendations for improvement of future elections based on the findings; and, to demonstrate AU’s interest to support Angola’s elections and democratization process to ensure that the conduct of genuine elections contributes to the consolidation of democratic governance, peace and stability in Angola in particular and the Southern Africa sub-region in general.
For more information please contact: Mr. Robert Gerenge (gerenger@africa-union.org) or Ms. Karine Kakasi Siaba (kakasik@africa-union.org).