Namibia’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has launched the Southern African Development Community (SADC) election observer mission that is monitoring general elections in neighbouring Angola.
Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is chairperson of the SADC Ministerial Committee of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, is leading a 52-member SADC electoral observation mission (SEOM) launched on Monday in the Angolan capital Luanda.
Speaking during the launch, the Namibian minister said the mission is expected to observe the August 24 Angola general elections based on a three-tier electoral observation approach that involves pre-election assessments, assessments during elections and post-election assessments.
“The deployment of this SEOM was preceded by a Pre-Election Assessment and Goodwill Mission of the SADC Electoral Advisory Council from 9-17 June 2022,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.
She said the SADC observer mission would issue a preliminary statement on August 26.
More than 14.75 million Angolans have registered to vote in the elections to choose a president, members of parliament and local government councillors. This is a 50 percent increase on the number of registered voters from the previous elections held in 2017.
“It is our expectation that this increase in voter registration will be matched by a high voter turn-out on election day,” she said.
Angolan electoral authorities have set up 13,212 polling stations across the country, and modalities and facilities have been put in place to enable Angolan citizens resident in other countries to cast their votes on election-day.
The launch of the SEOM was attended by former Cape Verde president Jorge Carlos de Almeida Fonseca who is heading the Community of Portuguese-speaking countries Electoral Observation Mission and former Ethiopian prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn who is leading the African Union observer mission.
JN/APA