The 2017 General Elections in the Republic of Kenya will take place tomorrow, August 8.

We, the African Union Election Observer Mission (AUEOM), take this opportunity to wish the sister people of Kenya peaceful, free, fair and transparent elections.

We are happy that in this regard we echo an aspiration shared by the people of Kenya as a whole, including the political parties and the candidates concerned.

We say this informed by commitments made directly to us, and publicly to the people of Kenya, by the various stakeholders.

In this regard we are very pleased that the contestants in the Elections have recognised that the success of the Kenya Elections is of great importance to Africa as a whole and have therefore promised not to disappoint the expectations of the peoples of our Continent.

We have also been greatly encouraged by the universal commitment among the people of Kenya to ensure peaceful Elections, fully cognisant of the reality that they have to live and work together as fellow citizens whoever wins during the Elections.

We therefore appeal to everybody concerned, including the State security agencies, to work together to ensure the prevalence of peace during and after the Elections, fully mindful of the legal responsibilities of the IEBC.

Similarly we have been greatly encouraged by the commitments made by all stakeholders both to us directly and publicly to the nation to do everything they can to help ensure free, fair and transparent Elections.

In this context we extend our best wishes to the IEBC for success as it carries out its important work. We also appeal to all the political parties and the candidates fully to cooperate with the IEBC as it discharges its responsibilities consistent with the Constitution, the law and the relevant regulations.

Similarly the State and Government must of course do everything necessary to help ensure that the IEBC does everything necessary such that Kenya holds free, fair and transparent Elections, including as this relates to all processes such as the voting at the Polling Stations, the tallying of votes at the Constituencies, the transmission of the voting returns to the National Tallying Centre and the announcement of the final results.

We are pleased that by holding the Elections tomorrow, August 8, the Republic of Kenya will demonstrate its respect for the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, which commits AU Member States to conduct regular, transparent, free and fair elections, and mandates political parties and candidates to accept the legitimate outcomes of such elections.

We wish the sister people of Kenya peaceful, free, fair and transparent Elections, convinced that these will be conducted in a manner which will serve as an example which other African countries should emulate.

Thabo Mbeki.

Head of the African Union Election Observation Mission to the 2017 Kenya General Elections.