Following its meeting held on Friday, August 13, 2021, the Special Commission for the accreditation of election observers (SCAEO) called on the accredited bodies for the observation of the 2021 elections to adhere to the precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Commission sent a note to the legal representatives of these bodies in this regard.
This meeting was chaired by Ms. Amina Bouayach, Chairperson of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH).
Given the conditions related to the increasingly severe pandemic, the SCAEO called on the accredited observers to strictly adhere to the precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 besides the usual observation measures, particularly the following measures:
- Testing for the COVID-19 exposure;
- Wearing face masks properly, physical distancing, sanitizing...;
- Refraining from conducting observation missions if any of COVID-19 symptoms appears or in case of contacting persons who have been tested positive or showing symptoms;
- Ensuring the vaccination against the virus (the two doses determined by the competent public authorities);
-Adhering to the precautionary measures taken by the relevant authorities at the entrances of the voting offices and the meeting offices of the statistics committees, including, in particular, measuring temperature before entering and providing vaccination certificate;
-Respecting the required distancing inside the voting offices and at the statistics committees meetings;
-Complying with the rights and obligations of election observers under Articles 16 and 17 of Law No. 30-11, as well as the legal and regulatory texts in force since the declaration of the state of health emergency in Morocco;
- Notifying cases of violations of the observers’ obligations immediately and on self-initiative, in line with the requirements of Article 18 of Law No. 30-11;
- Informing the SCAEO Chairperson of the necessary information on any possible case of COVID-19.
Pursuant its decisions, the SCAEO requested the accredited bodies to submit earlier the distribution of observers to facilitate the observation process and respect the precautionary measures to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic;
The SCAEO also called on these bodies to adopt CNDH as a framework for sharing or applying for information needed by observers, in coordination with the accredited associations and networks.
To be noted, the SCAEO has decided to provide accreditation to 44 national associations and networks, in addition to CNDH in its capacity as a national body, after fulfilling all the conditions that qualify them to conduct impartial and independent observation of future electoral benefits.
