The Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries held its 24th Annual General Conference (AGC) on the 26th October 2022, hosted by the Electoral Commission of Namibia in Swakopmund. This was the first physical Annual General Conference since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Keynote address and official opening of the 24th Annual General Conference was done by Honourable Minister of Urban and Rural Development of the Government of the Republic of Namibia, Mr. Erastus Uutoni.
Alongside its 24th Annual General Conference, a Seminar was convened on the theme Stakeholder Engagement and Accountability to promote public trust in Electoral Processes in the SADC region. The Seminar provided a platform for partidpants to explore and discuss challenges faced by Election Management Bodies (EMBs) in their efforts to restore public confidence in the electoral process and rebuild their institutional credibility through effective stakeholder engagement. Participants at the Seminar included EMBs in the SADC region (Chairpersons, Commissioners, CEOs and senior officials of EMBs), senior officials from the host government of the Republic of Namibia, electoral stakeholders in Namibia amongst others political parties and representatives from the Civil Society Organizations, resource persons from Regional and International Organizations.
As the supreme policy-making body of the Forum, the 24th AGC Conference received and considered reports from the Forum President and deliberated on recommendations from the Executive Committee including adoption of audited and financial reports from the Secretariat
As this was an elective conference, the following leadership positions for 2022-2024 were duly nominated and elected: President IEC-Botswana, Vice President CENI-DRC