ECOWAS Council of Elders meet in Accra

Accra, June 12, GNA - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Council of Elders would meet in Accra on Monday June 14 for a two-day workshop on the role of the regional body in election observation.

Twenty participants, including the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas and former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar would attend the workshop being organized by ECOWAS in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES). Nana Akufo-Addo, Foreign Minister would perform the opening ceremony.

The guiding issues of the workshop include: "Role and Mandate of ECOWAS Regarding Good Governance"; "Democratisation, Election Observation in West Africa"; "Past Experiences and Lessons Learned by ECOWAS in Election Observation"; "The Role of Other Regional and International Actors in Election Observation in West Africa" and "Developments and Recent Regional and International Trends in Designing Electoral Legislation".

The rest are: "Developments in International Election Observation-Basic Issues, Key Problems and lessons learned"; "Types of Electoral Management Bodies in West Africa - Characteristics and Performance"; "Role of Council of Elders Members as Leaders of Exploratory Mission" and "Role of Council of Elders Members as Head of Observation Missions".

Mr Peter Linder, German Ambassador to Ghana; Dr Winrich Kuehne, Director of the Centre for International Peace Operations (ZIF) and Mr Jorg Bergstemann, Resident Director, FES would participate in the workshop.