interim report
EISA observer Mission to the DRC Constitutional Referendum, 18 and 19 December 2005 (continued)

3. Recommendations

After analysing the legal framework and political context in which the Referendum process has unfolded and observing the organisation of the Referendum poll on 18 and 19 December 2005, the Mission recommends the following:

1. The CEI should strengthen its capacity to train efficiently electoral agents;
2. Voting procedures and operations should be clarified and applied in a uniform way by all electoral agents;
3. Voting procedures should be revised and simplified, for instance the way indelible ink is applied, as well as the way electoral lists are used;
4. Previous training should be capitalised by employing, for the upcoming elections, the same electoral agents who served during the referendum and to remunerate them timeously, so as not to discourage them;
5. The Commission should take a greater degree of responsibility with regard to civic and electoral education and should make sure that it has the support, cooperation and collaboration of other stakeholders involved in the process, including civil society organisations and political parties;
6. Efforts made towards preventing and managing conflict should continue and must be further reinforced. The Mission is of the opinion that civic education programmes can contribute to the upholding and promotion of a culture of peace and tolerance before, during and after voting day;
7. There should be improved accessibility, availability and communication between the CEI and its various structures as well as between the CEI and electoral agents on voting day;
8. The establishment of clear and precise voting procedures should be timeously communicated to electoral agents in order to avoid confusion amongst the electorate and electoral agents, for example concerning the duration of the poll;
9. A simple and clear explanation of voting procedures should be communicated to voters in order to improve processes at polling stations;
10. The CEI, with the assistance of the national police forces or any other law enforcement unit which may be required, should have all the necessary means to guarantee the security of all electoral operations (campaigns, voting, vote counting and publication of results) for the upcoming elections, particularly in areas where the situation is sensitive and volatile.

4. Conclusion

1. The Mission noted that voter access to polling stations was by and large open and without any substantial hindrance;
2. The presence of police officers assigned to ensure security at polling stations was neither intimidating nor restrictive;
3. with the exception of a small number of cases, electoral material was timeously distributed and ready for use at polling stations;
4. The atmosphere at polling stations was generally relaxed and peaceful;
5. The EISA teams did not observe any systematic attempts to cast multiple votes;
6. A number of polling stations started the voting process with delay, but were able to operate normally afterwards;
7. The layout of voting booths guaranteed the secrecy of the vote;
8. Overall, the organisation of the Referendum poll can be regarded as successful and the CEI should be commended and supported for the achievement;
9. The experience acquired by electoral agents should contribute to the consolidation and improvement in the conduct and management of upcoming elections.

Basing itself on the guidelines enshrined in the ECF/EISA PEMMO, the EISA Observer Mission concludes that the voters in the DRC were afforded the opportunity to exercise their civic obligation in reasonable conditions.

Advocate Yusuf Aboobaker
Mission Leader