Coming soon: An EA electoral commission...

Also to be looked at is the harmonisation of the swearing-in period after election results are announced to give ample time for possible disputes to be sorted out before a country gets a new head of state. The proposal is to make this at least 60 days.

Uganda already has a 60-day window. In Kenya, the draft constitution proposes that the swearing in of the president-elect be done 28 days after the date of the declaration of the results.

The Electoral Support Mission to Burundi has made a report in which a number of issues that need urgent addressing are identified.

These have been handed over by the EAC Council of Ministers to the Burundi government to enable it to have an input before a decision on the way forward is taken.

Key issues that the mission identified arose from the election law itself, the need to address the funding gap for the elections, timely voter registration and update and improvement of security during campaigns and the election period.

Other issues that the Forum of Electoral Commissions had earlier identified as key and needing to be addressed at EAC level, are the cost of elections, ownership of the process, building confidence of the masses in the electoral commissions, minimising electoral disputes and harmonising electoral laws to adopt best practices.