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SADC Parliamentary Forum Norms and Standards for elections in the SADC Region

Download the SADC-PF Norms and Standards (PDF format)

Adopted by the SADC Parliamentary Forum Plenary Assembly on the 25th March 2001 Windhoek, Namibia

Introduction (from the official document)

The experience gained by the SADC Parliamentary Forum in observing elections in Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Mauritius is quite revealing. There have been significant gains in promoting democratic governance in the SADC region since the advent of the re-introduction of multi-party politics in the early 1990s. Periodic elections are being conducted nearly every five years. In a few cases, elections have resulted in the change of Governments in a peaceful manner. Indeed, most SADC countries are making progress in managing succession peacefully. In addition, some of the elections have produced balanced parliamentary representation which reflect the broad spectrum of the different shades of opinions in a country. Some of the one party dictatorial constitutions have been duly amended to reflect the new dispensations.

Regrettably, however, neither the constitutions, nor the electoral systems or the practices of most institutions have been aligned to the new multiparty democratic culture. This applies to intra-party democracy or lack of it across the board. Levels of tolerance of contesting views are still too low as well as the empowerment of women to participate in decisionmaking process in Government. Furthermore, a lot still remains to be done to improve the political environment in which elections are conducted and ensuring that the existing legal and institutional frameworks work independently and impartially. There is still need to address issues relating to leveling the playing field for all the players contesting elections, inequality in the funding of political parties, inadequate access to state-owned media and election related violence.

What is being said above is not equally applicable to all countries. We must record, for example, the well-known fact that some countries in the SADC region have served as models of democratic governance for over three decades, namely Botswana and Mauritius both of which have made phenomenal economic gains. In addition, the new democratic states which, emerged in the 1990s in the southern part of Southern Africa have brought in new systems and practices which promote legitimate elections and electoral institutions such as independent electoral commissions. The above observations are fully documented in reports on elections in the four countries named above and on research done by the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) on the state of elections in the SADC region as a whole.

As its contribution to the emergence of plural, multi-party democracy, the SADC Parliamentary Forum has taken a keen interest in election observation and electoral processes. The immediate objective of election observation is to determine the openness, freeness and fairness and elections in the SADC Region. However, the long term goal is to use lessons learned and experiences gained in election observation to help in strengthening the democratic processes and transparency in the conduct of elections in SADC countries. Furthermore, it is expected that observation will enable the SADC Parliamentary Forum to develop a procedural manual with guidelines for observer missions. It is against this background that the workshop was being held.

The purpose of the workshop was to use the lessons learned and experiences gained in election observation in Namibia, Mozambique, Mauritius and Zimbabwe to make implementable recommendations to SADC Government leaders and SADC Parliaments. The recommendations that were finally made at the end of the workshop are targeted at strengthening electoral institutions, reforming outdated legal frameworks and electoral practices, and entrenching the democratic process in the conduct of elections thus minimising disputes over the outcome of elections among contesting political parties. The recommendations which form part of this report if accepted are expected to significantly contribute to political stability in Southern Africa.