Following an invitation from the Government of The Democratic Republic of Congo, the European Union has established an Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to observe the constitutional referendum scheduled to take place on december 12th 2005. The EOM marks a further contribution by the European Commission to supporting peace and democratization in DRC.
After more than 15 years of different transition periods and suffering civil wars, the referendum constitution was the first national democratic vote in the country in more than 40 years. It has been a success with more than 80% of approval leading to the election in 2006. The European Union EOM mission’s mandate is to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the electoral process and to observe the extent to which the election complies with international standards for elections, as well as domestic law. The EU EOM is independent from the European Commission Delegation to DRC and EU member states. The mission is neutral and independent in its findings.
