EISA.
Our History
EISA.
Our History
The Electoral Institute of South Africa (EISA) is officially established in South Africa.
H.E Cyril Ramaphosa (former Chairperson of South Africa’s Constitutional Assembly and current President of South Africa) was appointed as the first Chairperson of the Board of Directors, with Dren Nupen as the first Executive Director - EISA launches a national electoral support programme in South Africa
EISA facilitates the establishment of the first-ever civil society elections network in Southern Africa, the SADC Election Support Network (SADC ESN)
EISA facilitates the launch of the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC (ECF-SADC).
EISA provides technical support to the ECF-SADC election observation missions
EISA launches its Conflict Management Panels (CMPs) model for management and prevention of electoral-related conflicts
EISA changes its name to Electoral Institute of Southern Africa to reflect its new geographical scope.
EISA launches a democracy and human rights programme in South African schools
EISA launches the Journal of African Elections (JAE), the first accredited African journal on the subject of elections. (33 volumes published by 2016)
EISA establishes an electoral resource centre in its Head Office. EISA publishes the first Compendium of Elections in Southern Africa (1990-2002) - Denis Kadima was appointed as the new Executive Director.
Sir Ketumile Masire, former President of Botswana, is appointed as EISA Patron. EISA deploys its first sub-regional election observation mission (EOM) to Zimbabwe
In collaboration with ECF-SADC, EISA launches The Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation in the SADC Region (PEMMO)s
EISA opens an office in Mozambique with the goal of strengthening a culture of accountability of elected bodies as well as to ensure a well-informed citizenry.
The office also sought to ensure the sustainability of the democratic project in Mozambique through electoral reform.
EISA launches the ‘African Elections Calendar’.
The calendar contains all the dates of past and up-coming elections on the continent. The calendar is updated regularly by EISA as information becomes available.
EISA celebrates its 10th anniversary with its 1st Annual Symposium, whose theme was Challenges for Democratic Governance and Human Development in Africa.
EISA deploys over 3000 electoral conflict mediators for the first post-civil war elections in the DRC, the first-ever initiative in the country
EISA opens an office in Madagascar with the strategic objective of supporting better participation of women in decision-making positions and democratic processes in Malagasy political decision-making processes.
The project has had a strong focus on citizen participation.
EISA establishes its first field office in the West African sub-region Cote d'Ivoire, to support citizen election observation networks.
EISA establishes a field office in Sudan to support a conflict mapping exercise and conflict management programme
EISA signs its first Memorandum of Understanding with the African Union (AU) to collaborate in election observation.
EISA has since then supported more than 80 AU Election Observation Missions.
EISA engages for the first time in sampled-based Parallel Vote Tabulation support, through its assistance to the citizen observation platform, Electoral Observatory in the Mozambique local elections
EISA establishes a field office in Chad to support governance and electoral institutions and processes.
EISA publishes the Second Compendium of Elections in Southern Africa (1998 - 2009).
EISA signs an MoU with the East African Community to collaborate in election observation and has since then supported various observer missions.
EISA signs an MoU with the Economic Community of Central African States to collaborate in election observation and has since then supported its observer missions. After an extensive consultation process, EISA launches its Benchmarks for Enhanced Democracy of Political Parties.
EISA opens a field office in Kenya to support governance and electoral processes following the 2007 post-electoral violence.
EISA begins training SADC EOMs. Since then EISA has provided training and briefings for various SADC observer missions
EISA facilitates the signing of the first-ever political parties code of conduct in Chad to uphold peaceful elections.
EISA facilitates the development of electoral laws in Kenya after the adoption of a new constitution in 2010. EISA opens field offices in Zimbabwe and Egypt to support the electoral processes.
EISA launches its first Long-Term Observation Mission, which was deployed to the Central African Republic (CAR).
EISA pioneers the use of information technology in election observation in Zambia.
EISA changes its name to Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa to reflect its expanded geographical and programmatic scope.
EISA contributes to the enhancement of electoral justice through the Election Dispute Resolution (EDR) programme with the Kenyan judiciary.
EISA participates as a standing committee member of the Association of World Electoral Bodies (A-WEB)
EISA opens an office in Somalia with the objective of contributing to instilling a democratic culture in that country through the building of strong institutions and assisting the Constitutional Building process.
EISA renews its MoU with the AU for another 5 years. With EISA assistance, the AU pilots the use of election observation data collection and aggregation technology during the Malawi elections.
EISA opens its field office in CAR to support the post-conflict political transition.
EISA’s Balloting and Election Services introduces new technology including SMS and e-voting.
EISA conducts the first traditional council elections in SA’s North West Province.
EISA partners with the APRM Panel of Eminent Persons, the APRM Secretariat, the SA Institute for International Affairs and the African Monitoring and Advocacy Project to host the first of its type continental conference between official APRM institutions and non-state actors in Botswana.
EISA pilots its innovative Popola technology. The Popola system is an open-source data collection and management system that allows for the collection, collation and analysis of data in real time. The system is extremely flexible and has been adapted to suit the needs of a wide range of stakeholders such as election observers, political parties and researchers and has been used for diverse field operations.
EISA celebrates its 20th anniversary. The organisation hosts a special symposium bringing together partners and democracy practioners from across the continent EISA publishes book on Electoral Integrity.
EISA publishes an edited volume titled ‘Checks and balances: African constitutions and democracy in the 21st century’ in which leading African academics seek to answer questions such as: “If constitutional changes continue to be elite driven processes – excluding citizens – can constitutions ever truly be 'living documents' providing the foundations to build and consolidate democratic norms and institutions in Africa?”
EISA Publishes an edited volume titled ‘State Capture: Old threats, new packaging’ exploring the concept of state capture and its place in democratic discourse in Africa to contribute meaningfully to the debate about the consolidation of transitional democracies.
EISA introduces Political Parties Gender audit in Malawi, Botswana and Lesotho.
EISA, in partnership with UM and Wits, launches project ObSERVE.
EISA conducts the first independent campaign finance monitoring research for 2019 SA elections.
EISA launches a ‘Roster of experts for EOMs’.
EISA signs "Accord d’établissement” with the Government of Côte d’Ivoire thus establishing its presence in West Africa.
EISA conducts its first post-Covid EOM at Tanzania General elections.
EISA’s Balloting and Electoral Services department (BES) wins an award for innovation in the use of ICT in managing elections.
The online Integrity Tool is piloted in Zambia's during the 2021 general elections. EISA's Online Integrity Tool seeks to enable observer groups to conduct a qualitative assessment of the different elements of the electoral cycle as a basis for developing a balanced and comprehensive assessment of an electoral process.
Baïdessou Soukolgué is appointed as EISA's third Executive Director.
The Journal of African Elections publishes its 20th edition.
EISA opens a field office in Liberia to support efforts for electoral integrity and credibility for Liberia 2023 elections through independent impartial observation and of the electoral process in adherence to national law and regional an international principle and obligations for democratic elections.
EISA opens a field office in Chad with the goal of promoting an active role for civil society organizations in monitoring the post-transition electoral process, with a view to inclusive, transparent and peaceful elections in the future.
In collaboration with ECF-SADC, EISA launches a revised version of ‘The Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation in the SADC Region (PEMMO).