Former President of Seychelles, H.E. Danny Faure, will lead a team of Commonwealth election observers to Antigua and Barbuda for the country’s general election, scheduled for 18 January 2023.
Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, announced the composition of the Commonwealth Observation Group today in response to an invitation from the Government of Antigua and Barbuda.
Election day will see voters asked to choose constituency representatives to the House of Representatives.
In a statement, the Secretary-General said: “I thank Danny Faure for accepting my invitation to lead this group and each of the Commonwealth observers for agreeing to undertake this important assignment.
“The group, which is independent and impartial, will assess the overall conduct of the election and, at the end, make recommendations which will contribute towards strengthening the electoral process in Antigua and Barbuda.”
The group’s mandate is to observe the preparations for the election, the polling, counting, tabulation procedures and the overall electoral environment as well as consider any factors that could impinge upon the credibility of the process as a whole.
Prior to deployment, the group will also have briefings with the country’s political party representatives, police officers and several stakeholders, including officials from the Electoral Commission, the media and social society groups representing women, youth and people with disabilities.
The group will submit its recommendations in a report to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, who will forward it to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, the country’s Electoral Commission, the leadership of political parties taking part in the elections and all Commonwealth governments. The report will be made public shortly after this.
The group comprises five eminent persons from across the Commonwealth. They will be supported by a staff team from the Secretariat led by Prof Luis Franceschi, Assistant Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. The group is expected to arrive in Saint John’s on 14 January 2023.
The Commonwealth Observer Group members are:
H.E. Danny Faure
Former President
Seychelles
Hon. Gideon Moi
Politician and former Senator
Kenya
Ms. Clare Keizer
Journalist and Editor-in-Chief at Searchlight
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Baroness Denise Kingsmill CBE
Member of the House of Lords
United Kingdom
Mr Patrick Kryticous Nshindano
Public Policy and Election Expert and former Chief Election Officer
Zambia
The Commonwealth
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 independent and equal countries. It is home to 2.5 billion people and includes both advanced economies and developing countries. Thirty-three of our members are small states, including 25 island nations. Our member governments have agreed to shared goals like development, democracy and peace. Our values and principles are expressed in the Commonwealth Charter.
Commonwealth Observer Groups (COGs)
The Commonwealth Secretariat is one of the original signatories to the 2005 Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation.
In addition, Commonwealth Observer Groups abide by the Commonwealth’s Revised Guidelines for the Conduct of Election Observation in Member Countries, which were adopted at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London in 2018.
These stipulate that:
COGs are “independent, including of the Secretariat. Members of a COG are invited by the Secretary-General to be a part of the team and each member is invited in their personal capacity as an eminent Commonwealth citizen, not as a representative of any member country, government or political group”.
More information on the role and mandate of observers can be found in the Commonwealth Handbook on Election Observation.
To access the Commonwealth’s collection of COG reports dating back to 1967, please visit https://library.commonwealth.int/Portal/External/en-GB/Collections/Collection/135.