The Electoral Commissions Forum of the Southern African Development Community (ECF-SADC) is pleased to announce that it is attending the 57th Plenary Assembly of the SADC Parliamentary Forum taking place on 1st to 8th June 2025 in Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. The ECF-SADC is duly represented by Commissioner Glen Mashinini of Electoral Commission of South Africa as the Executive Committee Chairperson of the ECF-SADC.

In keeping with the spirit of cooperation and solidarity between ECF-SADC and SADC PF, the is also pleased to announce that the signing ceremony for the MOUs between SADC PF and ECF-SADC will be finalised for on June 2025 in line with the proposed programme and in line with the profiling and visibility arrangements of this important milestone.

The signing of the MOU between ECF-SADC is strategic in that it enhances networking and collaboration between the ECF-SADC and SADCPF and provides a platform for knowledge exchange, regional collaboration, and strategic planning aimed at enhancing the delivery of democratic elections in the SADC region.

The MoU aligns with the SADC-PF and ECF-SADC goals to work towards the common vision of democracy and adherence to electoral laws and validation of electoral processes in the region. The thematic areas and the joint activities by this MoU will contribute to the improvement of quality of election management and have dialogues that will strengthen parliaments to fulfil their constitutional mandates. The MOU also aligns to the mandate of SADC PF in that parliaments and EMBs play a critical role in enhancing the overall legitimacy of the democratic order through their periodic procedural and substantive faculties. In this regard, the MOU with its guidelines on collaboration areas and guiding principles, enhances the institutional and technical capacities of parliaments and EMBs to promote synergies and the harmonisation of their initiatives in the electoral space.

The ECF-SADC observes that the MOU provides an opportunity to demonstrate the complimentary roles played by ECF-SADC and SADCPF resulting in mutual benefits and added value to the existing collaboration which amongst other areas will target enhancing EMB capacities to implement the SADC Model law on Elections.

To this end, the next steps after the signing the MOU include establishment of a joint technical committee to oversee the activities implemented in collaboration with SADC PF, the priority of which intends to capacitate EMBs to domesticate the Model law on Elections and to prioritise legislative reforms aimed at changing outdated electoral laws and practices. This will improve the electoral process by ensuring that elections across SADC Member States become credible and add value to the democratisation process. Through the implementation of the Model law, EMBs will liaise with Member States to collectively address the contemporary democracy and governance related challenges in the region.

Other outcomes of activities will be policy dialogues and position papers on the domestication of the Model Law on Elections

The strength of the MOU between SADC PF and ECF-SADC is the emphasis on Peer Learning, Support and Exchange of Best Practices and Capacity Development and Technical Assistance.  These are complimentary and potential areas to strengthen the networking between SADC PF and ECF-SADC to promote and facilitate knowledge exchange and learning between regions on the continent as well as other developing cases that may have lessons to share and exchange with the Southern African democracy and legislative strengthening processes.