Date: Monday, 07 August 2017
ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has deployed an Election Observer Mission to Kenya to observe the presidential, governors and parliamentary elections scheduled to be held on August 8, according to an IGAD statement on Monday.
Stating its experience of observing elections in the region since 2010, the statement said, after every election observation, IGAD reports to its member states so that every country benefits from the different experiences of conducting elections
Led by Tewolde Gebremeskel, Director of the Peace and Security Division of IGAD, the IGAD Observer Mission is composed of participants from IGAD Secretariat from different member states.
Since their arrival in Nairobi on Aug. 3, the head and other members of the Observer Mission had paid courtesy visit to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), and were received by the Chair and other officials of the Commission.
The IGAD Observers had also met with the Principal Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kenya.
They also attended a briefing organized by the IEBC whereby the commission announced to the public IEBC's readiness to conduct the election and provided updates to the public on various aspects of the election including logistics and security.
The IGAD Observer Mission also held a meeting where the members have been briefed about the overall security and political situation of the country, as well as the Kenyan Election laws and overall observation details of the mission.
The mission will continue to interact with other observers throughout its presence in Kenya, said the statement.
The observers will closely observe the poll opening, polling, poll closing and counting and tallying stages of the election process to take place on the Elections Day, it said.
IGAD is composed of member states consisting of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.
IGAD works to harmonize policies of member states in areas of peace and security, economic integration, agriculture and environment, and social development, said the statement.
