Elections in Southern Africa remain a cornerstone of democratic governance. In 2024, seven SADC countries conducted elections at various levels, prompting extensive observations by Election Observer Missions (EOMs). These EOMs played a critical role and were instrumental in safeguarding democratic norms, ensuring transparency and promoting accountability in electoral processes. EOMs provided recommendations targeted at improving each countries’ electoral governance. The recommendations were contextualised within a framework of national, regional and international commitments to which the countries are bound such as legal instruments, political declarations and good practice.

In light of the EOMs observations the Electoral Support Network of Southern Africa (ESN-SA) prepared this Compendium which serves as a comprehensive compilation of EOMs recommendations. It highlights electoral experiences and insights from Botswana, Comoros, Namibia, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa and Mauritius. The Compendium of EOMs recommendations provides
critical observations on legal, administrative and political areas requiring improvement, thereby fostering the need for continuous enhancement of electoral integrity and effective governance. By illuminating challenges in diverse electoral contexts, this Compendium facilitates consideration of the identified gaps by different bodies within the afore-mentioned countries.

Download: 2024 Compendium of Election Recommendations Observers

Executive Summary
This paper utilises a political economy approach to scrutinise the impact of the 2024 elections on the consolidation of democracy in the 14 countries covered by the Electoral Support Network of Southern Africa (ESN-SA). All the countries have committed to the protocols, norms and standards that guide elections in the region: the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, the Principles for Election Management, Monitoring, and Observation (PEMMO) and the African Charter
on Elections, Democracy and Governance (ACDEG) (2007).

International and Domestic Observer Missions observed elections in these seven countries (Botswana, Comoros, Mauritius, Mozambique, Madagascar, Namibia and South Africa) and the other eight
countries that had elections before 2024 and made recommendations to improve the integrity of the vote and the overall institutional democratic electoral processes. The outcomes of the 2024 elections caused some unexpected shifts in leadership in some countries that heralds potential change in the SADC region. Two of the countries, Botswana and Mauritius had peaceful political power alternations; South Africa ended up with a coalition government as there was no outright winner; Comoros and
Namibia had intense contestations from the opposition parties, and Mozambique erupted into violence that went on for longer than three months after the election. Highlights from the paper are presented below.

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Thank you for accepting the invitation to take part in the ESN-SA Citizen Election Observation
Academy. Your participation in the electoral process is crucial in ensuring that every citizen is
able to exercise fully his or her right to vote as enshrined in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights as well as Article 13 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

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