AU Reviews Elections

(The East African Standard) --The flawed Kenyan presidential election that resulted in widespread chaos and killings has prompted the African Union to call for a review of electoral procedures in the whole continent.

At the same time, the chief negotiator of the Kenya mediation process, Prof Oluyemi Adeniji, who took over from Dr Kofi Annan, said the stretch ahead of probing what went wrong with the election would be a difficult one.

In light of post-election turmoil, the Peace and Security Council’s statement called for a thorough review of electoral practices across the continent, not just in Kenya, but in several African countries, reported Voice of America from Addis Ababa.

The council called for a continent-wide examination of electoral procedures in light of the deadly election dispute that rocked Kenya and similar poll-related violence in other countries.

Adeniji, who had travelled to Addis to update the African Union on the process of the mediation, predicted difficult times ahead as a Commission of Inquiry appointed by President Kibaki begins its investigation into the disputed December election.

After a briefing from Adeniji, the council issued a statement urging the Eminent Persons’ panel to keep up its work.

Adeniji later told reporters in Addis the council members were concerned that many heavy issues lay ahead waiting to be resolved.

"By and large, the panel continues to be mandated by the AU to follow up the process, because they do not believe signature on the agreements meant the end of the mediatory process there," Adeniji said.

He added: "I don’t know which would be the most difficult, but definitely the issue of looking into processes that led to the election, the process that led to the announcement of the results of the election, and the culpability of some of the participants in the electoral process. It is going to be quite a demanding task."

Adeniji said tough standards are needed to ensure the independence, and thereby the credibility of national electoral commissions in Africa.

President Kibaki appointed highly-respected Judge Johann Kriegler to head the commission. Kriegler headed South Africa’s electoral commission during its first post-apartheid elections in 1994.

Daunting task

Adeniji said it would be "daunting" to find out who was responsible for the election crisis.

"Determining the culpability of some of the participants is going to be a daunting task," Adeniji said.

He said the AU has pledged more than US$150,000 (Sh9 million) to the mediation. He declined to say how much had been spent so far.

He said mediators would now focus on getting the parties to agree on how to address economic issues and settle land disputes.

On Tuesday, top US diplomat on Africa, Ms Jendayi Frazer, told the US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa that her country is committing US$25 million to help peace and reconciliation in Kenya, and to help people displaced and affected by the violence to restart their lives.

On African elections, it emerged that the AU is considering a review of its Declaration of Principles Governing Democratic Elections on the continent, said an official brief issued in Addis Ababa on Friday.

Apparently, the need for the review arose from the experience gained over the past five years, indicating that election observer missions did not have ample time to make adequate assessment of the polls.

A brief presented to the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the AU on Kenya, proposed that invitations for missions of the AU to observe and monitor elections should be made at least two months ahead of the election date.

"The observer and monitoring teams usually don’t stay long enough in a country to determine how free and fair the election can be," said Adeniji.

Meanwhile, the AU urged the Kenyan parties to remain committed to the implementation of the comprehensive reform agenda that includes land reform, constitutional, legal and institutional reform and policies to address regional inequalities and lack of opportunities. It also includes addressing negative ethnicity.

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