African Union Commission (AUC) announces the arrival of its Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) in Chad republic. The Chairperson of African Union Commission (AUC), HE Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has decided to send this mission for the first round of 10th April 2016, presidential election in Chad, and consequently monitor and report on the progress of the electoral process in the country.

The mission, led by H.E. Dioncounda Traore, former Transition President of the Republic of Mali, includes 34 observers and is made up of ambassadors to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Pan- African Parliamentarians, leaders of elections management bodies, members of civil society and human rights. The observers come from 23 different countries, namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Seychelles, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.

The Mission will monitor the progress of the electoral process in the light of relevant provisions of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance adopted in 2007 and entered into force in 2012, which aims to improve the electoral processes in Africa, strengthen electoral institutions and the conduct of fair, free and transparent elections ; the Declaration of the OAU / AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa 2002; AU Guidelines for observation missions and monitoring of elections of 2002 and other relevant international instruments governing the conduct of democratic elections in Africa, including the African Mechanism Peer Review. The observation will also build on the existing legal framework for the organization of the presidential election in the Republic of Chad.

To achieve its goal of making an independent, honest, professional and impartial observation based on transparency, integrity, fairness and election reliability , the Mission will meet with various political authorities, such as the institutions in charge of elections, the candidates, the Foreign Affairs Ministry , the Public Security Ministry, the Constitutional Court and civil society. The Mission will also interact with other Electoral Observation and Diplomatic Missions present in Chad.

After the elections, the Mission will present its preliminary findings on the conduct of the election and make recommendations during a press conference to be held on the 12th April 2016 at 14:00 hours at Hotel Kempinski in N’djamena. At the end of the electoral process, the AUEOM will issue a final report containing a detailed analysis of the conduct of the electoral process in the Republic of Chad.

The AUEOM arrived in Chad on the 6th of April 2016 and will stay there until the 14th April 2016.

The Mission’s Secretariat is located at Kempinski hotel.

African Union Electoral Observation Mission thanked the authorities of the Republic of Chad for all  the provisions that they are willing to make in order to facilitate our work on the field.