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Mrs. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration designate, led a delegation of the pre-electoral mission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Benin.
The visit is part of ECOWAS’s preventive diplomacy mandate and electoral assistance to member states, ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for April 11, 2021.
Madame Ayorkor Botchwey, who is also President of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, was accompanied by Dr Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, President of the ECOWAS Commission; Ms. Halima Ahmed, Commissioner in charge of Finance at the ECOWAS Commission; Mr. Blaise Diplo-Djomand, the resident representative of the ECOWAS Commission in Benin, as well as the technical staff of ECOWAS.
A statement released by the ECOWAS Commission, copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the pre-election mission was in line with ECOWAS mandate to promote peace, stability and the consolidation of democracy in South Africa. ‘Where is.
He said that the Mission was in compliance with the ECOWAS Additional Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance of 2001, in particular with regard to the provisions relating to conflict prevention.
He stated that the objective of the Mission was to exchange views with the main Beninese electoral actors to assess the level of preparedness of institutions and socio-political actors to ensure the conduct of an inclusive, free, fair, transparent presidential election. , credible and peaceful. .
The press release indicates that the mission met with the main stakeholders, including the President of the Constitutional Court, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the Minister of the Interior and Security, the President of the Electoral Commission (CENA ) and the chairman of supervision and guidance. Council of the permanent electronic voting list (COS-LEPI).
He said the Mission also met with a delegation from the ruling party and its affiliate, a delegation from opposition political parties and representatives of civil society.
She noted that the Mission had also met members of the diplomatic corps and representatives of the international community accredited to Benin.
She said the Mission took note of the political reforms undertaken by the Government of Benin to facilitate the electoral process and welcomed the overall progress made in this regard.
This included the publication of the electoral calendar, the registration of candidates, the transmission of the electoral list to COS-LEPI by the CENA and the publication in the coming days of a provisional list of candidates at the level of the CENA.
The statement said that the Mission was informed of the attempted assassination of one of the presidential candidates and also of the ongoing investigations.
He said the Mission had encouraged the authorities to continue the investigations in order to shed light on the conditions of the attack and to punish the perpetrators.
“The Mission calls on all parties to avoid hate speech which incites violence and creates a climate of tension,” he said.
“The Mission urges all socio-political actors to engage in dialogue in order to create conditions conducive to the conduct of credible and inclusive elections and thus strengthen the climate of peace in the country.”
The statement said that the Mission renewed ECOWAS support to the people and authorities of Benin and announced the deployment of an election observation mission for the April 11 presidential election.
—GNA
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