BUJUMBURA, September 20th (ABP) – The Association of women repatriates from Burundi (AFRABU), organised a training workshop on Wednesday 18 September 2024 in Bujumbura on the process and principles of observing democratic elections that take into account the needs of women and reporting for civil society leaders who participated in election observation in 2020 and other actors. The workshop was organised as part of the implementation of the project ‘Strengthening elected representatives of the people for democracy and inclusive good governance for women in Burundi’, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
In his opening remarks, AFRABU’s deputy legal representative, Anicet Nshimirimana, began by reminding participants that that training workshop had been organised to build the capacity of civil society leaders to observe the forthcoming elections.
In his view, election observation involves the systematic, comprehensive and accurate collection of information on the laws, processes and institutions relevant to the conduct of elections and on other factors relating to the overall electoral context. It also involves the impartial and professional analysis of that information, drawing conclusions about the nature of electoral processes based on the highest standards of accuracy of information and impartiality of analysis. To that end, he announced certain principles of election observation. Those include neutrality, impartiality and independence, and respect for the law and national sovereignty. Those principles also include dialogue and cooperation with the electoral authorities, political parties and other stakeholders in the electoral process.
On that occasion, he called on any organisation wishing to follow the electoral process to train its observers and inform them of the electoral legislation and the code of conduct.
During the presentations, Joséphine Niyonzima, the head of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), spoke about elections and electoral observation, and democratic principles and values. He pointed out that elections are a very interesting event, but also one of conflict. It is for that reason that all those who feel interested, and above all the stakeholders and different groups of actors, seek to follow that event very closely through election observation. Niyonzima pointed out that election observation is one of the fundamental pillars of the electoral process, reassuring that the forthcoming elections will be conducted in a fair, transparent and democratic manner. Returning to the concept of electoral observation, she explained that it is an activity that consists of gathering information on the electoral process, with the aim of checking that the elections comply with the laws and regulations, and assessing the conduct of the electoral campaign. It also aims to dissuade attempts at fraud, manipulation, pressure and intimidation of voters.
She therefore recommended that participants sensitise their members observing the forthcoming elections to be exemplary during that period by avoiding any behaviour that could disrupt, interfere with or hinder the smooth running of the electoral process, while respecting the principles of the secrecy of the vote.
During the discussions, the participants drew up a strategy for setting up communication mechanisms within the network of observers in order to prepare for the observation of the current electoral process.