The Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States

WELCOME ADDRESS BY THE ACP SECRETARY-GENERAL, SIR JOHN KAPUTIN, ON THE OCCASION OF THE ACP/OIF WORKSHOP ON SUPPORT FOR ELECTORAL PROCESSES IN ACP COUNTRIES

Wednesday, 9 December 2009
ACP House, Brussels

Your Excellencies, The Ambassadors, and Representatives of ACP and EU States,

Mrs. Maria NICULESCU, Permanent Representative of the OIF to the European Union,

Representatives of the EU Institutions, the OIF and the Commonwealth Secretariat,

Invited Guests,
  
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour and a pleasure to warmly welcome you all to ACP House and to this important Workshop on the Support for Electoral Processes in the ACP States, which is jointly organised by the ACP Secretariat and the OIF Office in Brussels.

From the outset, I would like to thank the OIF for their collaboration and all the participants for their positive response to our invitation.

Elections are one of the main pillars of democracy and, as such, an integral part of the essential elements which form the basis of the ACP-EU Partnership as defined in Article 9 of the Cotonou Agreement.

The overwhelming importance of elections in ACP States, and indeed, in all countries is therefore self-evident, hence the need to conduct electoral processes in such a way as to enhance the credibility of the results and facilitate their acceptance by all the stakeholders. This is critical for the prevention of political violence and social unrest in countries where the democratisation process is still young and where democratic changeover is not yet fully part of the established culture.

Recent examples in the ACP sphere have shown that poor management of electoral processes can lead to incommensurable difficulties that hinder sustainable development in our countries. It is therefore crucial to put in place and implement mechanisms that can contribute to increased transparency and credibility of election operations and thus enhance confidence in the electoral outcome. One such mechanism is the monitoring of electoral processes by independent observers though internationally recognized instruments and structures.

Thus, international observation has become a universally accepted practice insofar as it is crucial for assessing the relative legitimacy of electoral processes and their outcome.

As part of the intra-ACP Political Dialogue Framework, the ACP Group, through its Committee of Ambassadors, has also been conducting its own election observation missions, where and when necessary, at the invitation of its Member States, in addition to the missions undertaken by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. Due to limited resources and expertise, the Group does not have a structured election monitoring body. For this reason, the proposal and suggestions that will come out of this workshop in terms of assistance and capacity building will be most welcome.

The only election observation missions that the ACP Group can afford at present are those conducted on a short-term basis by teams of two Ambassadors assisted by one staff member of the. Instruments used for that purpose are generally ad hoc Terms of Reference and internationally agreed reference texts such us the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation and the Code of Conduct for International Election Observers. Tools and procedures include interaction with other election observation teams, as well as consultations with diplomatic missions and international organisations based in the countries visited.

The ACP Secretariat is now planning to compile an ACP Electoral Observation Guide with the assistance of the EU Commission. No doubt the outcome of your workshop will be a valuable asset to this exercise.

I am confident that the high-level expertise gathered here today and the enlightened exchange of views following the presentations by the various experts present around this table will allow for a sharing of good practices which will provide some capacity building elements for the ACP Secretariat, as well as for our Embassies and Missions.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I thank you for your kind attention and wish you a successful workshop.