Adopted on 20 July 2015, Pretoria, South Africa 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1.1 These SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections are a result of broad consultations by the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s Electoral Advisory Council (SEAC), with Member States, stakeholders and regional electoral experts. The principal objective of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections is to promote the holding and observation of democratic elections based on the shared values and principles of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights enshrined in the SADC Treaty signed at Windhoek, Namibia in 1992. 1.2 The first set of SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections were adopted in 2004 by the Heads of State Summit as a firm commitment to the institutionalisation of democracy and good governance in the region, and have since constituted a basis for the assessment of electoral processes in Member States. 1.3 It is notable that following the adoption of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections in 2004, SADC took another bold decision in 2005 to create an additional institutional mechanism which would ensure that electoral observation became a fundamental component of democratic processes in the region. The decision to establish SEAC emanated from recommendations of a stakeholder workshop held in Lesotho in line with a decision of the Ministerial Committee of the Organ (MCO). The stakeholder workshop initially urged SADC to integrate the Electoral Commissions’ Forum of SADC Countries (ECF-SADC), a formation of national Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) in southern Africa, into the organisation’s structures so as to constitute a regional over-sight institution on electoral matters. The workshop’s proposal entailed that the ECF and the SADC Secretariat collaborate to create a SADC Electoral Commission (SEC), whose responsibilities were to include strengthening the capacities of national electoral bodies, coordinating SADC Electoral Observation Missions (SEOMs) and ensuring the implementation of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections. 1.4 Based on the recommendations of the Inter State Politics and Diplomacy Committee (ISPDC), the MCO reviewed the workshop’s resolutions and mandated the Troika of the Organ to liaise with the ECF and work toward the formation of the SEC. However, the MCO decided, upon further deliberations on the matter, and with the support of the ECF, to recommend to the Heads of State Summit, the formation of a SADC Electoral Advisory Council in lieu of a SADC Electoral Commission. Following the establishment of SEAC in 2005 at the Head of State Summit in Gaborone, Botswana, therefore, the MCO adopted the SEAC Structures, Rules and Procedures in March 2009; and SEAC was formally constituted in August 2010 in Maputo, Mozambique. SEAC was inaugurated and initiated on 13 April, 2011 in Gaborone, Botswana. SEAC is, henceforth, the official electoral advisory body of the SADC whose aims include advising the regional economic community on elections and conflict mitigation; ensuring the implementation and review of the SADC Principles and Guidelines -1-