The Chairperson of the African Union Commission has approved the deployment of African Union Elections Observation Mission (AUEOM) to the Presidential Election scheduled to place in the Republic of Gabon on 27 August 2016.

The deployment of the AUEOM will take place in two phases. The first phase comprises the deployment of 12 Long Term Election Experts from 7 August to 11 September 2016. As already done in Zambia, the African Union Long Term Experts include election - legal - political – media - analysts. The Experts will ensure that the AUEOM approaches its work with added professionalism and factual analyses of the legal, political, electoral and media during this electoral process in Gabon.

At the second phase of the Mission, the Long Term Experts will be joined by 40 Short Term Observers from the 20th August to 2 September 2016. The AUEOM will be led by H.E. Cassam Uteem, former President of the Republic of Mauritius.

The African Union Elections Observation Mission draws its mandate from various African Union instruments, the national legislation of Gabon and the international and regional standards and good practices, among others: (a) the African Union Guidelines for Elections Observation and Monitoring Missions (2002); (b) the OUA/AU Declaration on Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa (2002); the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR-1981), (c) African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG-2007), (d) the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR-1966), and (e) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR-1948), which the AU is a signatory.

The objectives of the Mission are (a) to provide an accurate and impartial reporting or a global assessment of the 27th August Presidential Elections in the Republic of Gabon, including the degree to which the conduct of this election meets regional, continental and international standards for democratic elections; (b) to offer recommendations for improvement of future elections; and (c) to demonstrate AU’s interest to support Gabon’s elections and democratisation process to ensure that the conduct of credible elections contributes to the consolidation of democratic governance, peace and stability in Gabon in particular and the Central  African sub-region in general.