General and specific objectives of TEMCO’s observation activities

The general objective of TEMCO’s observation activities is to build practical local capacity in elections, a key institution for competitive multiparty political systems. Thus, the specific objectives of TEMCO include:

1. To observe the entire electoral process, including constituency setting, registration of voters, nomination of candidates, campaigning, voting, vote counting and assessing of the final election results;
2. To observe and assess the fairness of the administration of the elections in general, especially the impartiality of the legal infrastructure (the electoral law, regulations and directives), the electoral machinery, namely the National Electoral Commission (NEC) and the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) and supporting state institutions and instruments of law and order;
3. To assess the fairness in the allocation and use of relevant state resources by the contending political parties, especially state subsidies and public media (government radio, television and newspapers);
4. To assess the extent to which all factors considered, the elections results can be said to have been free and fair; and
5. To take stock of the major lessons that can be learned from the elections with a view to improving electoral efficacy and fairness in the future.