The Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) as a Regional Economic Community (REC) was officially invited by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission of Kenya (IEBC) to observe the upcoming elections scheduled for 04 March, 2013.
Accordingly, the Secretariat organized a short term observer mission composed of two representatives from each IGAD member state i.e. Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda and also participants from the Secretariat.
The main objective of the observer mission is to witness the conduct of the election process in accordance with the relevant laws, rules and regulations of the country and to draw lessons that could generally contribute to the promotion of democratic election.
The IGAD observer mission arrived in Kenya on 26 March 2013.
Taking in to consideration the large number of areas that need to be covered, the three regional Economic Communities (RECs) i.e. IGAD, the East African Economic Community (EAC) and the Common Market for East and Southern African States (COMESA) decided to create a joint observer mission to have a wider and more effective coverage of the election process.
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Accordingly, a joint IGAD,EAC and COMESA observer mission has been established and 21 joint election observer teams comprising a total number of 55 observers have been deployed to Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kitale, Kajiado, Narok,Kakamega, Bungoma,Nyeri, Thika ,Mombasa, Malindi, Voi, Isiolo, Kitui, Hola, Kisumu and ,Kissi on 28 March 2013.
A flag raising ceremony has been conducted on the morning of the 28th before the
departure of the observer teams to their respective areas of deployment.
The IGAD observer team to the general elections in Kenya is led by H.E. Ambassador (Dr.) Berhane Gebray, from Ethiopia, who is the Head and Spokesperson of the observer mission.
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The Joint Observer Mission’s temporary Secretariat is located at Hilton Hotel, Nairobi.
