interim report
EISA observer Mission to the DRC Constitutional Referendum, 18 and 19 December 2005
Kinshasa, 20 December 2005
1. Introduction
In response to an invitation extended by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), EISA deployed an observer mission to the Constitutional Referendum held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on 18 and 19 December 2005.
Members of the EISA delegation began to arrive in Kinshasa on Sunday 11 December 2005 in order to observe and assess the final preparatory stages of the Referendum, the Referendum itself (scheduled for Sunday 18 and Monday 19 December 2005), as well as post-Referendum activities, including the tabulation and the official announcements of provisional results.
The EISA Mission, mostly composed of nationals from the African continent, was established and deployed with the main aim of contributing to the emergence, institutionalisation and consolidation of democracy in the DRC, as well as demonstrating solidarity towards the people of Congo during this critical phase in their history.
From its observations and views regarding the Referendum process in the DRC which are based on the guidelines enshrined in the Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation in the SADC Region (PEMMO), the EISA Mission has made the preliminary assessments contained in this statement. EISA will produce and publish a detailed final report in the next few weeks, which will contain the details of its observations and provide a comprehensive analysis of the entire Referendum process. In order to do that, EISA will continue to monitor the process until its completion, including the final validation of the results.
1.1. Introduction to EISA
EISA is a regional non-profit organisation established in June 1996. The vision of the organisation is to promote credible elections and democratic governance in Africa. This vision is executed through the organisational mission: to strengthen electoral processes and promote good governance, human rights and democratic values through research, capacity building, advocacy and other targeted interventions. EISA services electoral commissions, political parties, civil society organisations and other institutions operating in the democracy and governance fields in Africa.
Since its inception the organisation has participated in the electoral processes of all the countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and beyond, namely in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Côte d'Ivoire, Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.