The African Union or AU Commission Chairperson approved the deployment of a Pre-election Assessment Mission to Sudan ahead of the country’s general elections scheduled for April 13.
The deployment followed an invitation from the Sudan National Electoral Commission in or NEC in line with AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections and its Guidelines for Elections Observation and Monitoring Missions.
In a statement CRN got on Tuesday, the mission is to consider the state of preparedness for the polls by all stakeholders and ensure that they conform to the framework of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
It also aims to assess the capacity and needs of the NEC to determine the type of electoral assistance that the AU Commission should provide and recommend the nature and scope of AU Election Observation Mission.
The Pre-election Assessment Team comprised of one staff from the Commission Political Affairs to serve as mission coordinator and four independent election experts.
The team started consultations with various political and electoral stakeholders in the Sudan from March 1 to 10.