The Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries

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

15/07/2026

Regional Leaders to Convene in Accra to Confront the Financialization of Politics in Africa

Accra, Ghana (14–16 July 2026)

A high-level regional convening on the financialization of politics in Africa has brought together policymakers, anti-corruption bodies, civil society leaders, and development partners in Accra , as concerns mount across the continent over the growing role of money in shaping electoral and political outcomes.

Convened by the African Union Advisory Board against Corruption (AUABC), the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the Open Society Foundations (OSF), Transparency International (TI), and the Community of Practice on Political Finance in Africa, this event discusses the growing influence of money in politics and its impact on democratic governance.

The convening offers a unique platform for knowledge sharing, collaboration, networking, and engagement among policymakers, practitioners, researchers, civil society actors, development partners, and other stakeholders committed to strengthening democratic accountability in Africa.

The EMB networks including the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries are amongst the participants at this High Level Convening .

EMB networks, given their mandate of working with Election Management Bodies are key stakeholders in being part of the working space for knowledge exchange, peer learning, and the kind of sustained collaboration that reform of political finance systems.