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OAS Mission that Observed the General Elections of December in Dominica Presented its Conclusions and Recommendations

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) today received the report of the Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) to the general elections held on December 8, 2014 in Dominica, presented by the Chief of Mission and Secretary for Multidimensional Security of the OAS, Adam Blackwell, who suggested a series of measures for the improvement of the electoral system of the Caribbean country.

In his report, the Chief of Mission designated by the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, highlighted “the professional and deliberate conduct of the poll workers” and “the commitment of voters.” In addition he cited as “a positive step” the introduction of new translucent ballot boxes and additional security measures during the voting process.

The Chief of the EOM recalled that the Mission began its work on December 4, 2015, and that it met with a wide range of actors, among them the Prime Minister, the President, the leader of the opposition, candidates from political parties and independents, members of the Electoral Commission, representatives of the police forces, labor unions, non-governmental organizations, and delegates of other observation missions. “During the campaign period observed by the EOM, fundamental rights and freedoms of expression, assembly and association were respected,” said Ambassador Blackwell.

Among the recommendations to the Government of Dominica, “most of which were already made by the 2009 EOM,” the report includes: carrying out a comprehensive update of the list of voters; implementing a voter identification system; enacting campaign finance regulations; reviewing electoral boundaries; reviewing legislation governing the validity of votes; and promoting the political participation of women.

In his conclusion, Secretary Blackwell expressed the gratitude of the OAS for the financial contributions of the governments of Argentina, France and South Korea to the Mission.

The Permanent Representative of Dominica, Hubert Charles, highlighted that “we consider election monitoring as a key component of the process of strengthening our elections infrastructure and hence of the process for assuring the integrity of our democratic practices.” In addition, he thanked the EOM for its report and the OAS “for its partnership in the development of our electoral process. We hope that following the conclusions of the discussion of the report with our electoral authorities and within Parliament we will be able to identify some specific interventions to be pursued with the support of the OAS and other partners.”

On another agenda item, the Council approved a resolution that sets the location and date of the Tenth Meeting of Ministers of Justice or Other Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas (REMJA – X) in Bogota, Colombia on October 15 and 16.

Additionally, the Council approved the sending of invitations to 14 civil society organizations to the 45th OAS General Assembly, in addition to the invitations sent in the previous meeting to 26 Inter-American regional or subregional agencies or entities, 65 specialized agencies of the UN and other international organizations, 541 civil society organizations, 2 labor organizations and, 14 private sector bodies.

The Council also approved a resolution referring to the continuity in service to the Organization during the transition process that begins on May 26.

During the meeting, the representatives of Brazil, Colombia, Dominica, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Venezuela, Chile, Nicaragua, Ecuador, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Barbados, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Guyana, El Salvador, Uruguay, Jamaica, Argentina, and the Observer from France took the floor.

A gallery of photos of the event will be available here.

The video news of the event will be available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-184/15