The African Union Commission (AU) announces the arrival of an Election Observation Mission, for the 24 November 2019 Presidential election in the Republic of Guinea Bissau. At the invitation of the Government of Guinea Bissau, the President of the AU Commission, His Excellency Moussa Faki Mahamat decided to deploy this Mission to asses and report on the conduct of this election.

The African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM), is comprised of Long Term Observers (LTO) and Short Term Observers (STO) who arrived Bissau on 19 and 20 November 2019. The LTO will remain in the country till 31 December 2019. The STO will stay until 30 November 2019.

The AUEOM is led by His Excellency Joaquim Rafael BRANCO, former Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe. It is made up of fourteen (14) LTO and forty (40) STO, comprising men, women and youth. The Mission constitutes an Ambassador accredited to the African Union, Pan-African Parliamentarians, Officials of Election Management Bodies, members of African civil society, African election experts, Human Rights specialists, Experts on Gender, Media Experts and representatives of youth organizations. The observers are drawn from thirty-one (31) countries, which represent the Geographical diversity of the continent and include the following: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape-Vert, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.

The Mission shall evaluate the presidential election in the Republic of Guinea Bissau, in line notably with pertinent provisions of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (2012), the OAU/AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa, (2002), the AU Guidelines for Election Observation and Monitoring Missions (2002), and the legal framework for the conduct of the Presidential Election in the Republic of Guinea Bissau.
The evaluation shall be conducted on the quality of the Presidential Election with respect to its regularity, transparency and the peaceful nature of the process particularly during the last days of the election campaign, the voting and tabulation processes.

The Mission notifies that the deployment of the LTO serves to ensure an exhaustive observation of the different aspects of the electoral process.

The Mission shall interact with state authorities, officials of the defense and security forces and those of institutions in-charge of elections, presidential candidates and their representatives, the media, officials of the civil society and representatives of the international Community present in Guinea Bissau. The Mission will equally interact with the other election observation Missions deployed to the Republic of Guinea Bissau for the same purpose.

The Mission shall deploy observers to all nine (9) regions of the country which are: The autonomous Sector of Bissau, Biombo, Bafata, Gabu, Oio, Quinara, Tombali, Cacheu and Bolama Bijagos.

The Mission shall undertake an honest, independent, professional and impartial observation of the conduct of the presidential election.

The Preliminary Statement of the Mission’s findings shall be published on 26 November 2019 at Hotel Ledger Plaza, at 5:30 p m. The Mission shall where necessary formulate recommendations to stakeholders of the electoral process in Guinea Bissau. A final report with a detailed assessment of the entire process shall be published later.

The Mission is based at Hotel Ledger Plaza. Its secretariat is reachable on the following telephone number: +245 969165762.

The AUEOM thanks the authorities of the Republic of Guinea Bissau for the invitation extended to it and for all the services undertaken to facilitate its work on the field.

Done at Bissau, 20 November 2019

For the Mission,
His Excellency Joaquim Rafael BRANCO