Southern Africa Electoral Bodies counseled on integrity

Over 60 participants, including Commissioners and Senior Officials of Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) from nine member states of the Electoral Commissions Forum of Southern African Development Community (ECF-SADC), have attended a capacity building workshop in Dar es Salaam, the largest city of Tanzania, which recently aimed at boosting integrity, professionalism, transparency and accountability in the electoral process.

The four-day workshop was organized and sponsored by ECF-SADC, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) of Tanzania and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).

Delivering the opening speech at the workshop which was organized to orient new commissioners and senior staff of ECF-SADC, the Chairman of the NEC of Tanzania, the Court of Appeal Judge, Hon. Justice Jacobs Mwambegele advised EMBs to ensure adherence to fundamental guiding principles in electoral management. 

He named the guiding principles as including independence, impartiality, integrity, transparency, efficiency, professionalism, service-mindedness and sustainability. 

“It is my hope that this orientation workshop, organized in collaboration with the NEC of Tanzania, will contribute to the improvement of the conduct of elections in our countries and greatly enhance our capacities in electoral management. All these efforts are aimed at accelerating sustainable democracy in the region and beyond,” he said.

He added, “I must admit that with your recent appointment to election management portfolios, you are no longer viewers but actors and our society expects you to deliver credible elections”.

The seminar goal was to orient newly appointed Commissioners and Senior Executives to ease their work by giving them a better understanding of electoral norms and the general knowledge that would enable them to execute their duties efficiently, professionally and transparently.

The nine SADC member states represented in the workshop include Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Seychelles, Namibia, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.

[Mr. YENER, New Chairman ]

According to the legal legislation in Türkiye, the Supreme Election Council of the Republic of Türkiye (SEC) consists of seven principals and four substitute members. Six of the members are elected by the General Assembly of the Court of Cassation and five by the General Assembly of the Council of State by secret ballot and an absolute majority of the total number of their members. The term of office of the members is six years. A member whose term has expired can be re-elected. The Chairman and the Deputy Chairman are elected from among the members of the SEC by secret ballot and the absolute majority of the total number of members. Instead of the SEC members whose terms of office have expired, an election is held in the second half of January every three years.

In accordance with these provisions, the election was held by the SEC with the participation of new members on January 26, 2023.  As a result of the secret ballot, Mr. Ahmet YENER was elected as the Chairman and Mr. Ekrem ÖZÜBEK as the Deputy Chairman.

AHMET YENER (Chairman of the Supreme Election Council of the Republic of Türkiye)

Mr. Yener was born on April 13, 1966, in Ankara. He graduated from the İstanbul University Faculty of Law in 1989.  He served as a judge in Baykan, Yığılca, Sivrihisar, Osmaniye and Kırıkkale. Mr. YENER, who was elected to membership of the Court of Cassation on December 12, 2011, is still a member of the Tenth Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation. He was elected to the Supreme Election Council as a member in January 2020,and as chairman on January 26, 2023. Mr. Yener has four co-authored books related to work accidents, occupational diseases and suits for damages. He is married with three children. 

EKREM ÖZÜBEK (Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Election Council of the Republic of Türkiye)

Mr. Özübek was born on January 1, 1963. He graduated from the Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences in 1987. He worked as a member and chairman of administrative courts, and regional administrative courts in different cities. Mr. ÖZÜBEK, who was elected to membership of the Council of State on December 15, 2014, is still a member of the Council of State. He was elected to the Supreme Election Council as a member in January 2020 and as deputy chairman on January 26, 2023. He is married with two children. 

<Re-notice> Relocation of the Secretariat’s office

The A-WEB Secretariat reinforms you that the office of the Secretariat was shifted to a new location in Songdo International Business District. The new address of the office is 19th Floor, 12 Gaetbeol-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon Metropolitan City, Republic of Korea. This new address was used from 1 February 2023. And the telephone number of the Secretariat has been changed as below.

Tel: +82-32-930-7200

The online meeting between the Chair and

Secretary General of A-WEB 

The Chairperson and Secretary General of A-WEB held a productive online meeting on 23 February 2023. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss critical matters related to the governance and annual activities of our esteemed Association. We remain committed to ensuring transparency and open communication among our leadership team as we work together to advance A-WEB's mission and objectives.

A-WEB to be participating in the 2023 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy

The A-WEB Secretariat delegation is going to participate in the 2023 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy. The Forum is taking place in Mexico from Feb 27 to Mar 6 and organized by Democracy International (based in Cologne, Germany) in cooperation with INE (El Instituto Nacional Electoral) of Mexico.

The forum is marking its 11th gathering this year and has served as an arena to discuss 'direct democracy' among scholars, journalists, election administrators, and many other stakeholders, adopting its own declarations.

This year, the forum will talk about the promise and perils of direct democracy for Mexico and Latin America through an organized effort between Democracy International and INE Mexico.

Secretary General of A-WEB gave a lecture for building capacity of local council officers

Dr. In-sik Jang, Secretary General of A-WEB, lectured about Audit and Investigation on administrative affairs to Incheon Metropolitan city and district council policy officers at Incheon Metropolitan City Human Resource Management Center on February 23, 2023.

Dr. In-sik Jang was previously a Chief of Staff in the Secretariat of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea.  He is currently Secretary General of A-WEB and also works as a professor at the Local Government Parliamentary Research Institute. Based on his 30 years-career in the National Assembly, Professor Jang has been disseminating his abundance of knowledge and experiences to staff of the councils over the country. 

Signing of an MOU between A-WEB Secretariat and West Support

Dr. In-sik Jang, Secretary General of A-WEB and Yana Kolesnikova, President of West Support recently signed the MOU document. The signing was done remotely and both organizations exchanged the signed documents through mail. 

Through this newly forged partnership, the A-WEB Secretariat hopes to expand the scope of its work for democracy around the world.

The Mission was headed by Mr. Jorge Morales from the Central Electoral Board of the Dominican Republic and consisted of eight representatives from eight different countries including Belgium, Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mauritius, Moldova, Paraguay, and Samoa.

Before Election Day, the A-WEB Mission had a chance to attend general rehearsals for the upcoming elections and observe processes of at-home voting, internet voting and voting of non-convicted prisoners voting. 

Observers of the A-WEB Mission were deployed to Quito, the capital of Ecuador and visited electoral precincts in the parishes of Iñaquito, Guayllabamba, Tumbaco, Pomasqui and Carcelén to look at the voting and counting processes at polling stations. After polls closed, the Mission visited a Result Processing Center where counting records from polling stations in a precinct are verified and digitalized before transmitting to the competent Provincial Electoral Board. 

Before departing from Ecuador, the preliminary report of the A-WEB Mission including comments on the observation undertaken and recommendations on the electoral processes was delivered to the CNE of Ecuador.

You can reach out more about A-WEB mission's activities in Ecuador by clicking on this link.

The A-WEB Secretariat is pleased to inform you that the 2022 A-WEB Annual Report is published online. We sincerely appreciate all the contributors to this report.  This report comprises messages from the new leadership of A-WEB, meetings, including the 5th General Assembly meeting, held in South Africa and the 10th Executive Board meeting, activities and outcomes of the Secretariat, regional center and electoral activities of our member EMBs. It also introduces new heads and management of member EMBs. You can find the report at the official website of A-WEB at the link below.

Annual Report<Publication<News·Publications< A-WEB (aweb.org)

This report will be distributed through the A-WEB meetings and conferences later on.

Cyprus Presidential Election

Ecuador Constitutional Referendum 

      Ecuador Local Elections 

The Secretariat requests that members of A-WEB pay the annual membership fee of USD 10,000 for the year 2023. Each member has its own account and the annual membership fee paid by a member is managed individually.

To inform the Secretariat of the completion of the transfer, all members who have finalized the transaction are requested to send a copy of the remittance receipt issued by the bank to the Secretariat via aweb131014@gmail.com: the document should include information such as sender name, amount sent and date of transfer. 

 For any questions regarding the membership fee, please feel free to contact the Secretariat at aweb131014@gmail.com as well. more details