THE COUNCIL’S ELECTIONS OBSERVATION: INTRODUCTION

The Council’s observation of the legislative elections of 7 September 2007 is in line with its participation in the consolidation of the achievements of the Kingdom in building democracy and strengthening the rule of law and institutions. It comes thus within the framework of the Council’s mission to protect human rights and promote their culture, mainly civil and political rights. The right to vote is a fundamental pillar in democratic building. It is closely linked to the other civil and political rights such as the rights to freedom of belonging, freedom of association, freedom of opinion and expression, which are necessary to ensure political participation.

First level: (coordination to facilitate the international observation) the Council coordinated with the competent public authorities to facilitate the work of foreign observers. It relied on the National Democratic Institute, an international non-governmental organization working to provide the organizational and logistical support, to facilitate the election observation by foreign observers.

Second Level: coordination and cooperation with the civil society associations to monitor the elections. These associations were the interlocutor of the Council, regarding the national observers.

Third level: it is related to work of the Council itself with respect to the monitoring and direct observation, through: (1) the creation of an ad hoc committee composed of its members to supervise all work associated with the election observation; (2) the creation of an ad hoc administrative unit to accomplish the relevant tasks; consisted of a group of divisions, including a division in charge of relations with the Ministry of Justice, a second division in charge of coordination with the Ministry of Interior and foreign observers, a third division to coordinate tasks associated with the observation of the Council, a fourth division in charge of coordination with the involved civil society associations, and a fifth division in charge of relations with the Hugh Authority of Audiovisual Communication and print media on the election.

In the context of its work, the Council issued a press release stressing the need to adhere to the rules of the Code of Conduct, internationally recognized in the field election observation, including in particular, neutrality and non-interference in any stage of the electoral process, objectivity, professionalism and respect for public authorities and the laws in force. Observers will follow all stages of the electoral process: before and during the election campaign and during the polling day, on which they will be able to enter the polling stations to observe what is going on inside.

The Council organized a training session for its observers on 29 and 30 August on the techniques of observation, the legal provisions governing the election process and the principles and rules of conduct the observer should have.

The Council aimed to prepare a thematic report based on the following key points:

1. The referential framework of the international human rights standards to make the election observation systematic and study and analyze of the national legal framework to exercise of the right to vote.

2. The outcome of cooperation and coordination with the competent public authorities, mainly the Ministry of Interior and Justice, the first regarding the organization of the observation, and the second regarding the issues that fall within its competence, in particular violations and complaints related to the electoral process.

3. Results of the monitoring and analysis of all relevant press articles, through direct monitoring for print press or indirectly in cooperation with the High Authority of Audiovisual Communication.

4. Examining the outcome of the observation through the monitoring of all stages of the observation process, to be made by the Advisory Council on Human Rights, the International delegation observation and the civil society associations concerned.

5. Abstracts, proposals and recommendations. Some of these recommendations and proposals will be related to the observation process itself through the Council’s conclusions.

The Council considers that it is not all about the electoral process itself. It is (the Council’s work) linked rather to the promotion of the practice of citizenship and education on the culture of democracy.