The official launch of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) General Assembly of the African Union (AU) took place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on 9 September 2008. Subsequently, the Permanent General Assembly at its orientation meeting in Nairobi, Kenya from 15 to 18 October 2008 decided to resume the ECOSOCC electoral process in countries and regions where elections have not yet been held.
To this end, the ECOSOCC of the African Union invited all Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), social and professional groups, Community-Based Organizations, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), as well as cultural groups to submit their candidatures by December 31 2008. The countries and regions are:
Angola, Botswana, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland, Rwanda, Togo, Zimbabwe and North and Central regions.
Applicants may participate in the process either as candidates for election or members of the Electoral College.
This decision was informed by the desire to allow for the representation of CSOs from all the member states of the Union, as well as the five regions of the continent as stipulated in Article 4 of the ECOSOCC Statutes
In order to ensure a democratic election with the widest involvement of the African people, the African Union Commission has also appealed to all Members States and the African Civil Society Community to assist in the mobilization of African people in their respective countries and regions and encourage them to participate actively in the forthcoming elections, so as to seize the historic opportunity offered by ECOSOCC to add their voices to the decision-making processes of the African Union.
The ECOSOCC was also named as the main channel for CSO involvement in the Joint Africa-EU Strategy.
Additional information and other details regarding the election can be obtained from the AU website (www.africa-union.org).
