Secretary-General's remarks at opening session of Commonwealth Electoral Network Biennial Conference

Introduction

Honourable Attorney-General, High Commissioners, distinguished panelists, participants and Commonwealth friends…

It is a great pleasure to be here for this important Commonwealth event. We are grateful to the people of Kenya for their warm welcome and generous hospitality.

We thank Ahmed Issack Hassan, incoming Chair of the CEN Steering Committee, and his team at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission of Kenya for hosting this Conference. Their care and attention with the planning and delivery of our meeting is much appreciated.

I am sure you would all wish to join me in thanking Marc Mayrand for the dedication and great skill with which he has carried out his duties as Chair since the excellent CEN conference in Toronto two years ago.

It is good to see such wide representation here today. A distinctive feature of the Commonwealth is our capacity for networking, drawing people together, sharing experiences and knowledge, and thereby gaining mutual and collective benefit.

Under the theme ‘Managing Elections in the 21st Century: Strengthening Institutional Capacity and Electoral Integrity’, the agenda for this conference offers a stimulating blend of opportunities for sharing best practice, practical experience and ideas and technical expertise. Our hope is also that in the strategic sessions the voice of every participant can be heard, and so help to shape the future direction of the Network.

I am confident that this gathering will mark another milestone in our collective efforts to promote all aspects of good electoral practice through peer learning and support, thus enhancing our democratic culture and service to our citizens. Links nurtured and strengthened through CEN are a powerful practical illustration of Commonwealth connection as a great global good.

Democracy

The Commonwealth Charter now embodies the aspirations and expectations of our citizens. It brings together in a single defining document the values we seek to uphold. Under the heading ‘Democracy’ the Charter refers to ‘the inalienable right of the individual to participate in democratic processes, in particular through free and fair elections, shaping the society in which they live’.

Advancing democracy is central to Commonwealth focus. It is a distinctive expression of our kinship and affinity. Democracy is of course far more than just the holding of elections, and we continue to place great emphasis on the Latimer House Principles, which deal with the separation of powers, and on supporting all institutions of good governance.

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, comprised of representative Foreign Ministers and known as CMAG, is custodian of our fundamental political values. Established in 1995, it has responsibility for addressing serious or persistent violations of those values by any of our member states.

A particular strength of the Commonwealth is the scope for peer review and partnership among our member states. That is what meetings such as this are all about: strengthening networks, sharing, exchanging, being mutually supportive. The benefit derived is all the greater because of the diversity encompassed within our 53 member states.

While democracy in the Commonwealth takes varied forms, our member states have committed themselves to common values and principles. These shape both our collective goals and our collective responsibility. Shared inheritances means there is much in common when it comes to institutional arrangements and legal frameworks. This offers special opportunities in the case of elections.

Election observation

Election observation work is one of our distinctive Commonwealth strengths. Since 1990 we have sent more than 120 Observer Groups to presidential and parliamentary elections. This work is highly valued by member states, which see our observers as lending greater credence and legitimacy to the electoral process, and as a calming influence, particularly where tensions are high.

In the past year, we have observed elections in Antigua and Barbuda, Cameroon, Malawi, five separate deployments to Maldives, in Rwanda, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Swaziland. Several leaders from Electoral Management Bodies present here have responded positively to my invitations to serve on various Commonwealth observer missions. Your professional contributions, and readiness to offer time and expertise, are much valued.

We remain conscious of the need to follow up the recommendations of our election observers. There can only be a diminishing value if we deploy observers who make recommendations for improvements, only for the same concerns and recommendations to arise several years later at an ensuing election. We are exploring how to devote more time, human and financial resources in the Secretariat to support the implementation of recommendations.

In this context greater consideration perhaps needs to be given to post-election dialogue. Stakeholders can then consider more fully the recommendations made by observers and identify areas where reform and up-skilling should be concentrated. I trust the Commonwealth Electoral Network will assist in the removal of these perceived deficits.

Election Management and the Commonwealth Electoral Network 

Within the Commonwealth and our member states a high priority is continually seeking to raise electoral standards. The quality of a country’s election is, to a large extent, dependent upon the quality of its election management body (EMB). Where an EMB is independent, capable and transparent, it can play a crucial role in ensuring the credibility of an election and public and political confidence in it. Our aim is to ensure they are a force for good, upholders of the highest Commonwealth ‘gold standard’ in electoral management.

It was with this in mind that we established the Commonwealth Electoral Network, bringing together national election management bodies of the Commonwealth. Our aim through the network is to facilitate sharing of experience and technical knowledge, and to create support mechanisms, promote good practices and provide opportunities for peer support across the Commonwealth.

So it is gratifying to see CEN moving from strength to strength. We can all take great encouragement from the progress we have already achieved towards establishing this ‘gold standard’ in electoral management - both for the Commonwealth and for the wider world.

Over the last two years, CEN has continued to gain momentum as it facilitates promotion of good practice and provides opportunities for peer support across the Commonwealth. Two more CEN Working Groups have met, adding to the three that met between the Accra and Toronto conferences. These deliberated on ‘Managing the Power of Incumbency’ (in Cape Town in 2012), and on ‘Political Party Expenditure and Campaign Financing’, (at the Secretariat’s Headquarters in London in 2013).

I am also pleased to note swift and encouraging progress achieved to date by the Commonwealth Junior Elections Professional Initiative since its launch in July 2013. The Initiative is generously supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and was designed in direct response to a request from CEN members for a capacity-building programme for more junior electoral administrators.

The Initiative has so far organised two training events:

• a pan-Commonwealth pilot event, co-hosted by the Election Commission of India, in New Delhi in October 2013; and
• a Commonwealth Pacific regional workshop, held in Canberra in March this year which was organised in partnership with the Australian Electoral Commission.

These two workshops have brought together around 40 junior election professionals from 27 Commonwealth election management bodies to examining a range of electoral issues, including voter registration, boundary delimitation, the power of incumbency, and working with political parties.

Gender is a key focus, and I am pleased to report that over half of all participants to date have been female. All participants have been challenged to think about these issues from a gender perspective. Plans are underway to deliver three further regional workshops before June 2015 - in the Caribbean & Americas, Africa, and Asia regions.

The Initiative promises to make an important contribution to advancing our shared goal of forging stronger links within the family of Commonwealth election management bodies, and to nurturing the next generation of Commonwealth electoral administrators in their work of organising fair, credible and inclusive elections.

I wish to recognise the efforts of our Democracy team at the Secretariat in servicing CEN. Following major restructuring at the Secretariat, the recruitment process for a dedicated Political Officer to support CEN has recently been completed. It gives me great pleasure to introduce Trish Mossman - who many of you already know.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I wish you every success in this conference, and very much look forward to receiving the outcomes of your discussions. The Commonwealth Electoral Network and the Junior Election Professionals Initiative are your networks. We established them to serve your interests, and to support you in the vital and pivotal work that you do. I have every confidence that you will make full use of them to make a positive impact for the benefit of the Commonwealth citizens we serve, who have a right for their vote to be counted fairly and credibly and their voice to be respected.