Ahead of May 29 South Africa general election, the African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM), on Thursday, arrived in the rainbow nation following an invitation of the South African government and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa.

According to the press release issued by the AU on Thursday, the AUEOM consists of 60 short-term observers (STOs) drawn from ambassadors accredited to the African Union, officials of election management bodies and other civil groups and is headed by former Kenya President, Uhuru Kenyatta.

The chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, had approved the deployment of the mission to South Africa where they are expected to interact with the country’s authorities, the electoral commission, political parties and other relevant bodies.

“The Mission shall interact with state authorities, the Independent Electoral Commission, political parties, the media, civil society organisations and representatives of the international community,” the African Union said in the press release.

“The Mission will also interact with other election observation missions deployed to observe the 2024 General Elections in South Africa.”

On May 29, South Africans will vote to elect a new National Assembly and the provincial legislature in each of the nine provinces. After the members of the assembly have been elected, the assembly will now elect the new president of South Africa who must also be a member of the parliament.

The elected president will then be required to resign from the parliament to assume the new position as the head of the country.

The AU said the mission will base its assessment of the election on South Africa’s election legal framework and the African Union’s principles governing democratic elections. On 31 May 2024, the mission will release preliminary findings and recommendations on the conduct of the elections in Johannesburg.

“The AUEOM will base its assessment on the legal framework governing elections in the Republic of South Africa and the OAU/AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections, the standards and obligations stipulated in the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG), and the International Declaration of Principles (DoP) for International Election Observation among others.”

“The Mission will release its preliminary findings and recommendations on the conduct of the elections on 31 May 2024 in a press conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. A final and comprehensive report will be released within two months from the date of announcement of final election results and will be posted on the AU Commission website.”