Former Tanzanian President Ali Hassan Mwinyi will lead the East African Community Election Observer Mission team to monitor the general election in Uganda scheduled for February 18.
The 50-member team is due to arrive in Kampala on Tuesday February 9, 2016, to observe the overall electoral environment, pre-election activities, the polling day, the counting and tallying of results
The EAC Observer Mission is a response to the invitation of the Uganda Electoral Commission as well as the decision of the EAC Council of Ministers on observation of elections in the Partner States.
The Mission is preceded by a Pre-Elections Assessment Team  which was deployed from January 31, 2016 to assess the level of preparedness by key stakeholders and prepare a report that will inform the Mwinyi-led Short Term Election Observation Mission.
The members of the EAC Election Observer Mission have been drawn from different but complementary disciplines and includes, members of the East African Legislative Assembly, delegates from four Partner States (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi), EAC Youth Ambassadors, Mission Leader, Mission Coordinator , One EAC Executive Staff and  technical officers from the Secretariat as well as  EALA.
The exclusion of members from the Republic of Uganda is consistent with the adopted practice on the Principles of Election Observation and Evaluation which precludes nationals of the host country from participating as election observation in their own countries.
The Mission is expected to prepare a report that will be submitted to, among others, the Electoral Commission of Uganda, through the EAC Council of Ministers for consideration and implementation. The Mission will depart Uganda on February 21, 2016.
