It is important for an EMB to create and sustain a good relationship with election monitors, certification teams (where appointed) and observers. Election monitors (who have the power to intervene and rectify any shortcomings in the electoral process), certification teams (which play an agreed role in assessing and validating (or not) an election process, especially in a post-conflict environment), and citizen and international election observers (who do not have the power to intervene and must only gather information and report) can be critical players in the electoral process. EMBs need to put in place simple accreditation procedures and adopt effective and timely accreditation mechanisms.
An EMB can organize and/or participate in observer pre-election briefings, held some weeks before voting day, for longer-term observers and observation planning teams. A further round of briefings could be arranged some days before voting day, whenever most citizen and short-term international observers are ready for deployment. It is increasingly common for EMBs to invite political parties and representatives of civil society to attend observer briefings so that they can brief observers about their impressions of the EMB’s preparedness for elections. Observer briefing packs prepared by an EMB can also help observers understand the election’s framework and operational processes.
Observers, as part of their accreditation process, typically have to subscribe to a code of conduct laid down by the EMB (or in legislation), which may require them, or their sponsoring organization, to bring problems in the electoral process to the EMB’s attention. Observation missions will normally also seek to define the standards of conduct they expect from their members. Formal sanctions associated with breaches of the code may include withdrawal of accreditation, though this is unlikely to be widely used in practice, because it will usually have an impact only after the event, and may have undesirable diplomatic repercussions.
