CCDH PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE OBSERVATION OF THE 2007 LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS

The mission of the Advisory Council on Human Rights (CCDH) in the observation of the parliamentary elections of 7 September 2007 falls within the framework of its contribution to the consolidation of the Moroccan achievements in building and promoting democracy and the State of law and institutions. It is into line with the prerogatives of the Council in the field of human rights protection and promotion, mainly civil and political rights. The right to vote is an essential pillar of democracy building as it is related to other civil and political rights including the rights to freedom of belonging and organization and freedom of opinion and expression, essential to guarantee political participation. From this perspective, the Council was tasked with the observation of the elections of 7 September 2007. It formed an ad-hoc committee composed of some of its members to observe the elections and created an administrative unit to manage the practical aspects of the matter.

I. Observation of the elections

The Council directly observed the elections before and during the electoral campaign and during the day of voting. It facilitated the work of foreign and domestic observers in cooperation with public authorities concerned to allow the observation of the elections by the international delegation. This delegation was composed of observers from 26 countries from Europe, Africa, America, Asia and the Middle East in addition to civil society.

1. Council's role in the organization of the observation

1.1 Cooperation with public authorities

The Council has always been interested in and concerned by cooperation and coordination with public authorities, particularly the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Justice; with the MI regarding the facilitation of the observation operation in general and within the polling stations and the central offices in particular and with the MJ regarding the observation of work within the regional vote-counting commissions and cases falling within its competence, especially violations and complaints related to elections.

Cooperation with the Ministry of Interior paved the way to the preparation of circulars on the organization of the electoral campaign and filling the legislative gap in the field of election observation. Indeed, a circular was sent the Walis and governors to inform them that some national and international observers would observe the elections, and especially during the day of voting and urge them to cooperate with them and facilitate their work in all stages, including presence during the counting of votes, and monitoring the work of the regional commissions in charge of votes counting. The Ministry of Interior appointed officials at the regional and provincial levels in order to communicate and cooperate with the coordinators of the committees involved in the observation operation.

The Ministry of Justice, for its part, sent circulars to the presidents of the courts of appeals and the courts of first instance and public prosecutors asking for their cooperation with national and international observers. It urges them to facilitate their work during meetings with the regional commissions in charge of votes counting. The Ministry issued other notes and circulars recommending the application of the law for the success of the elections.

The Ministry of Justice provided the Council with an inventory of complaints filed during the registration of the electoral lists and the measures that have been taken in this regard.

The Council received information and data on complaints and violations relating to the elections before and during the electoral campaigns. For its part, it provided the Ministry of Justice with a number of complaints submitted by individuals, political parties and civil society associations.

1.2 Media

The Council oversaw the media coverage of the elections before, during and after the electoral campaign. Similarly, in cooperation with the High Authority of Audiovisual Communication (HACA), the Council monitored audiovisual coverage as well. During the electoral campaign, the national press was interested in probing the atmosphere of the electoral campaign in various constituencies at the national level and to highlight some violations in addition to the outline of the programs of the participating parties and other different election issues.

1.3 Organization of direct observation by the Council

The Advisory Council on Human Rights adopted measures and conditions for selecting its own observers. It insisted that they must not support any candidate, that they must be honest, neutral and objective. It required that they must have an adequate academic and cognitive level.

The Council assigned 124 observers, ten of them were CCDH members. They benefited from special training in which they were presented with sufficient information and data on the general framework of the elections. They were briefed on the international experience concerning the observation of elections and the role of the Council in monitoring the observation operation. They were trained to use some observation techniques. The Council formed five coordination groups at the regional level under the supervision of university teachers and administrative staff with a professional experience. This action aimed to ensure the regional organization of the operation during the day of vote and facilitate administrative and technical communication with the Council’s administrative unit.

Having defined the lists of all observers, who committed themselves to respect internationally recognized standards relating to the election observation, the Council assigned observers across the different regions of the Kingdom. They received badges with their names, photos and numbers of National Identity Cards. They were distributed according to a scientific approach, in way to cover 93% of the regions of the Kingdom.

The Council’s observers covered 65 electoral districts divided into 54 prefectures and provinces across the regions of the Kingdom. They were thus able to oversee the election polls in 1062 voting stations, 141 central offices and 14 provincial counting committees.

1.4 Cooperation and coordination with international observers

The Council facilitated the work of international observers through coordination with the Ministry of Interior and other authorities responsible for providing necessary assistance to facilitate the operation of observation.

Cooperation with the Ministry of Interior was essentially materialized in:

- Facilitating the organization of meetings with local and regional officials to have an idea on the efforts made for the organization of the elections;

- Providing data, information and legal and statistic documents, including information on polling stations and central offices.

The Council provided technical assistance to international observers to facilitate the management of documents relating to the elections operation. It provided a special badge to all observers who signed individual commitments to respect internationally recognized standards relative to the elections observation.

The international delegation in charge of the observation was made by 52 observers internationally known by their professional experiences in the field of elections observation. This delegation was chaired by Mr. Jorge Quiroga, Bolivia's former president and Madrid Club member.

The delegation members belonged to 26 countries from Africa, Europe, North and South America, Asia and the Middle East.

1.5 Coordination and cooperation with the civil society

The Council cooperated with civil society associations in the elections observation due to the fact that they had had similar experience through their participation in observing the 2002 elections.

The Council held several coordination meetings with several associations from 2 August to 6 September 2007. It provided all facilities for these associations, documents and financial support and contacted the authorities to facilitate their work whenever necessary, especially in regard to the organization of training sessions.

The Council agreed with the associations, as was the case with all other observers, including CCDH appointed and international observers, that individual commitments must be signed, as it was indicated in press release dated 13August 2007.

The Council and the associations agreed on the following:

- the associations should forward the list of their observers by 21 August. Upon the associations’ request this delay was extended to 25 August;

- they were committed, pursuant to what is internationally recognized in the field of observation, to sign individual commitments (by each observer) before 25 August 2007. All their observers undertook to respect the standards of observation.

- they should submit photos of their observers in order to prepare their badges. The Council dropped this clause because the representatives of the associations expressed their inability to collect those photos.

The Council prepared the observers’ badges and, as was agreed upon with the associations at the beginning of their coordination, handed those of the observers who signed the individual commitments. It was committed to hand the badges to the other observers upon receiving their individual commitments. Because associations were unable to submit the other individual commitments, the Council handed the associations concerned the other badges (2825 badges) and provided necessary assistance to distribute them. Members of the secretariat of the associations concerned signed a document that committed them to hand the badges only to their observers who signed the individual commitment.

II. Preliminary observations

1. CCDH

The Council indicated that all CCDH observers were able to oversee the entire electoral process. They had access to the polls, were present during the vote-counting operations in the central offices and monitoring the work of the regional counting commissions. Thanks to the observation of some CCDH members and the other observers of the Council the following conclusions were reached:

- the electoral process was conducted under very normal conditions and was characterized by integrity, transparency and administrative neutrality;

- the elections were marked by professionalism and good governance at the levels of organization, preparation and human resources;

- schedule and other legal regulations were all respected;

- lack of accessibilities for persons with disabilities;

- political parties were not represented as they should at the polling stations;

- some candidates and voters committed offenses outside the polling stations like using money and the extension of the election campaign up to the day of voting (limited cases);

- the presence of women was limited in the composition of the offices.

2. International observers

International observers carried out their mission in 375 voting centers in 12 regions of Morocco. The delegation noted that the voting was "fluent and characterized by transparency and professionalism and was conducted in a good environment". It also that the election administration worked in a professional way during the day of voting. They similarly indicated that women were not omnipresent in the composition of the voting offices and underlined the lack of accessibility for persons with disabilities.

They also mentioned that it was difficult to distinguish between the national list and local list on the ballot. The delegation also mentioned that it received complaints of offenses committed outside the polling stations like the use of money and other complaints at the centers like putting various papers and in addition to altercations. The international observers also noted the low participation of citizens in the elections.

3. Civil society associations

The association network avoided presenting a comprehensive assessment of the observation operation in relation to the development of the operation in its preliminary report. It mentioned few positive points and insisted instead on the violations committed within the centers. It listed some violations relating to the organization of the voting operation, and others relating what happened outside the polling stations. It indicated that:

- some used of money to convince voters;

- the election campaign continued during the day of voting;

- some voters did not have their voting cards, and others used others’ cards;

- some exerted pressure on voters to vote;

- the participation rate was low.

In general, the associations concerned noted that the logistics was up to the elections. They, however, avoided any overall assessment of the progress of the operation.

III. Assessment of the observation operation’s progress

1. The Advisory Council on Human Rights

The Council achieved its main objective from participating in the direct observation of the day of voting: gaining experience in this field, setting the ground rules of a typical national observation and putting together national and international experiences in the field to participate in the progress of the democratic process in the Kingdom. Human resources were thus trained in the field of national election observation and a large number of documents, supports and experiences that might be an important archive that could be useful in any future election observation.

2. International observers

The Council underlined that its conclusions matched the international delegation’s conclusions, according to the preliminary reports of the CCDH members and of the other observers involved in the Council’s observation.

In general, the Council stated that the international observers were true professionals and that they were bound by the internationally recognized standards. The Council noted that the international delegation respected its commitments and positively participated in strengthening the Moroccan achievements in the field of democracy.

3. Civil society associations

The civil society associations involved in the observation operation stated that their observers had been able to follow all stages of the electoral process including inside polling stations whose number reached 3355 stations. They monitored the vote-counting operation in 665 offices and were present when results were announced in 275 central offices. They monitored the work of 46 regional vote-counting committees.

The Council registered some shortcomings in the management aspects, which negatively influenced its cooperation with the associations. These shortcomings are related mainly to the final list of observers and the fact that it was not timely handed to the Council as was originally planned.

The Council received several lists:

- a first list on 25 August 2007; he associations requested that this list should not be taken into account;

- a second list on 28 August 2007 which included 2121 names on which the Council relied to prepare the badges;

- a list considered by the secretariat of the associations as an almost final. This list was received on 2 September 2007 at 05:00 a.m. It included the names of about 2668 observers;

- a list received on 2 September 2007 mentioning the names of 547 observers who were not mentioned in the list of 28 August 2007;

- an additional list of including the names of 29 observers on 2 September 2007;

- another additional list, dated 4 September 2007 with the names of 128 observers, including the names of members of the secretariat who were not included in previous lists.

Despite this confusion that caused difficulties for the Council in the treatment of the lists, the Council prepared, in three parts, according to the date on which the Council received the lists, a total of 2825 badges for observers whose data were available: full names and identity card numbers.

The Council affirmed that the association network did not meet its commitments with regard to the submission of the individual commitments of its own observers. The international observers and the Council’s observers, including its chairman, its secretary general and members all signed their individual commitments.

The Council was informed that some observers of the associations were involved in electoral campaigns. Others were involved in some stages and held discussions with representatives of the electoral lists and were shifted systematically at the same polling place.

The Council is still waiting for the other individual commitments. The Council recalls the commitment of the associations involved, in relation to the regularization of their situations upon completion of the election.
Despite these observations, the Council considers that the national observation of elections is a guarantee of their integrity and a way to strengthen democracy in our country.