Following the spread of the COVID-19-19 pandemic within African Union (AU) Member States and its impact on electoral processes, on 27 May 2020, the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) of the African Union Commission (AUC) in collaboration with the Association of African Electoral Authorities (AAEA) and Election Management Bodies (EMBs) Networks of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) convened the first virtual peer-learning consultative meeting under the theme “the COVID-19-19 Pandemic and Elections in Africa”. The meeting which was presided over by H.E Minata Samate Cessouma, the Commission of Political Affairs of the AU brought together 152 senior electoral officials from EMBs, civil society organisations, international non-governmental organisations and independent election experts. It is offered them the platform to exchange experiences and challenges on how best to conduct inclusive, peaceful, democratic and credible elections within the context of the ongoing public health emergency posed by COVID-19 pandemic.
The following key issues, recommendations as well as lessons emerged from the virtual meeting of African EMBs:
(a) Emerging Issues
Among others the following are some of the key question/concerns raised by participants during the meeting:
• How should voter registration be carried out without citizens getting infected?
• How can political parties organise their primaries and electoral campaigns within the context of restrictions on public gathering and movement and without the risk of spreading the virus?
• How can EMBs and stakeholders carry out voter education and sensitization during the period of COVID-19?
• What can EMBs do on Election Day to reduce overcrowding in polling stations on Election Day and during counting and tallying of votes?
• How do EMBs identify voters on Election Day without the risk of infection given that voters will have to remove their face masks in order to be properly identified?
• How do EMBs manage polling materials and polling station set up such as booth and inks effectively to reduce the risk of infections?
• How can EMBs provide opportunity for persons with symptoms or persons who have tested positive for the virus to vote?
(b) Lessons-learnt
Based on presentations by countries that have already held elections and those preparing for elections, contributions and comments by participants, the following lessons were drawn:
Intensification of public education and media campaigns in national and local languages on measures taken by EMBs to make the electoral process safe: Mali, Guinea and Tanzania used the approach during their respective electoral processes such voter registration and Election Day.
• Provision of free protective and sanitary materials: Most EMBs have provided and others are planning to provide alcohol sanitisers, temperature checks and hand washing kits, masks and gloves for election personnel and citizens on during voter registration and on Election Day.
• Recruitment and training of dedicated personnel on COVID-19-19 issues: the EMBs of Chad, Tanzania and CAR introduced the role of a dedicated polling station clerk responsible for ensuring that voters comply with health and safety measures.
• Collaboration with the health authorities: To ensure strict compliance with safety measures, most EMBs stated that they are working with or did work with health authorities in designing measures for the prevention of the spread of COVID-19-19 during each phase of the electoral process.
• Provision of special arrangements for voter registration inspection and verification: EMBs will provide online, SMS and call centre facilities for inspection of the voter register and verification of registration and polling station allocation details. The EMBs (Tanzania, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Seychelles) introduced these measures to reduce in-person visits to EMB offices for the verification of voter registration details.
• Social distancing at registrations centres and polling stations: To ensure compliance with social distancing requirements at polling stations, for instance, the Electoral Commission of Ghana plans to mark the queue areas at polling stations with paint to ensure compliance with the 2 metre distance.
• Reducing overcrowding at registration centres and polling stations: Some EMBs are putting plans in place to create additional polling streams at polling stations in order to reduce the number of voters assigned to each polling station. This however comes at the cost of recruiting additional staff and setting up additional voting facilities.
(c) Recommendations
Participants made the following recommendation for consideration of the AU and its member states and EMBs planning to organise or postpone their elections:
- Political parties and candidates should consider using virtual campaigns and social media platforms for their campaigns and related activities to avoid contribution to the spread of the pandemic.
- EMBs should consider distributing free masks in polling stations on Election Day to encourage voter turnout.
- EMBs should increasing the number of polling centres and booths to avoid overcrowding on Elections Day. The will ensure that polling stations are not overcrowded and the hours voters spend in polling stations reduced. This could include extending voting hours.
- EMBs should consider the possibility of conducting tests for both full time and ad hoc staff of EMBs, observers and technical support providers before and after the elections.
- AU Member States considering postponing their elections should engage in broad-based consultation with all electoral stakeholders to prevention political instability.
- The AU should establish a platform for continuous experience sharing for African EMBs to provide ongoing updates from countries that have held elections and serve as a peer learning opportunity for countries that are preparing for elections.
- The AU should come out with the proposed guideline on elections and pandemics as soon as possible for the benefit of countries yet to hold elections.
