EODS assisted EISA (The Electoral Institute for Sustainable democracy in Africa) with a study tour of the European parliament elections for 14 officials from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) including election commissioners, members of the Pan African Parliament, SADC Parliamentary Forum and members of the SADC Electoral Advisory Council. EODS organized meeting for the group with the European Commission, the External Action Service of the EU and the European Parliament as well as briefing them on the elections and EU observation methodology.
The group then divided up with members visiting either Sweden, France, Poland or Belgium for the elections. EODS assisted with meetings in Belgium with the Federal Public Service of the Interior who manage the elections, the College of Experts for Electronic Voting, and various political parties, media and other bodies involved in elections in Belgium.
Upon their return the groups discussed their experiences. Between them they had observed a variety of electoral practices including electronic voting, ways to enhance transparency of the process and discussed election observation with OSCE ODIHR in Warsaw as well as with EU institutions. The group took away a variety of experiences ranging from the high level of confidence established democracies have in their electoral systems but also how electronic voting is still viewed with suspicion to the strict methodology under which observation is conducted and the benefits of transparency measures.
