The Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries

23/09/2026

Preliminary Statement of The ECF-SADC Election Observation Mission of The General Election of The Republic Of Zambia Held On 13 August 2026.

At the invitation of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), the ECF-SADC deployed the observer Mission for this election led by Hon. Justice Annabel Mtalimanja, Chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and deputised by Dr. Elsie Nghikembua, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN). The Mission comprised forty observers drawn from eleven (11) member Commissions.

The Mission deployed from 5 to 16 August 2026 and covered five of Zambia's ten provinces, namely Lusaka, Southern, Central, Eastern and Copperbelt Provinces. Although the Mission was initially scheduled to conclude its deployment on 16 August 2026, it resolved to maintain a reduced presence in Zambia following the ECZ’s public announcement of 14 August 2026 suspending the counting and announcement of election results. Accordingly, the Mission leadership remained in the country until 19 August 2026 to continue monitoring developments in the post-election period. During this period, the Mission observed the results tallying and announcement processes, engaged the ECZ in a peer-support capacity, and coordinated with other international election observation missions involved in confidence-building and preventive diplomacy initiatives. This extended presence enabled the Mission to assess the immediate post-election environment and provided a sufficient basis for the findings and observations contained in this Preliminary Statement.

Download Full Preliminary Statement Here:
https://bit.ly/ecfsadc1

14/09/2026

ECF-SADC joined over 200 attendees from 60+ countries at the Global 🌍 Conference on Responsible AI and Elections in Ottawa, Canada. The conference explored responsible A.I. use, information integrity, digital readiness and stronger collaboration across the electoral cycle.

11/09/2026

Election Management Bodies of the SADC countries attend the Global Conference on Responsible AI and Elections, Ottawa, Canada

From September 9 to 11, 2026, the Global Conference on Responsible AI and Elections brought together more than 200 attendees from over 60 countries and 100-plus institutions and partner organizations at the Rogers Centre Ottawa. The event was jointly organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Elections Canada, with support from Global Affairs Canada and additional backing from AECID, Sida, and Microsoft.

The conference was very significant in that it brought together participants from all regions, including representatives from EMBs, governments, regulatory bodies, civil society, academia, technology companies, and regional and international organizations. The three-day programme featured high-level plenary sessions, interactive dialogues, and hands-on workshops addressing topics such as responsible AI use across the electoral cycle, resilience to AI-driven threats to information integrity, digital readiness of EMBs, and collaboration among electoral stakeholders, technology companies, and civil society.

As the conference wraps up on September 11, its resources and materials — agendas, session outputs, and the founding documents of the new community of practice — are expected to be made publicly available, giving election bodies that couldn't attend in person a way to plug into the same standards and lessons emerging from Ottawa.

From the SADC region – the Electoral Commissions of Lesotho , Malawi , Mozambique together with the Executive Secretary of the ECF-SADC Secretariat participated at this global conference.
For the full agenda, speaker list, and conference resources, visit ai4elections.org.

17/08/2026

14/08/2026

The Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries Election observation Mission to Zambia is underway under the leadership of Hon. Justice Annabel Mtalimanja, Chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission.

The Mission comprises Chairpersons, Commissioners and senior election officials drawn from eleven (11) Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) from Angola, Botswana, DRC Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Afria, Tanzania, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe.

The Mission deployed 8 Teams in the period of 10th to 14th August 2026 to cover 5 provinces namely: Lusaka, Southern, Central, Copperbelt and Eastern Province.

On election day 13th August 2026, the teams observed Polling and closing with counting processes anticipated to proceed at some polling stations.

The Mission will release its Preliminary Statement on 15th August 2026

12/08/2026

07/08/2026

The delegation from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Botswana and the Secretariat of the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC undertook a courtesy visit to the Embassy of Republic of Botswana to Zambia on 7th August 2026. The members form part of the ECF-SADC observer mission to the General Election of Zambia scheduled for 13th August 2026

06/08/2026

The representatives of the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries attended the launch of the SADC Election Observation Mission (SEOM) on 6th August 2026, at Pamodzi hotel in Lusaka, Zambia

06/08/2026

The ECF-SADC Election Observation Mission to the 2026 Zambia General Election, led by Justice Annabel Mtalimanja, Chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission, was officially launched today, 6 August 2026. As part of its initial engagements, the Mission paid a courtesy call on the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to assess the Commission’s level of preparedness for polling day scheduled for 13 August 2026