Her Ladyship Justice Sophia Akkufo, Former Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana and Member of the Council of State

Rev. Carlos Matsinhe,  Chairperson of the Mozambique Electoral Commission and President of the General Assembly of the AAEA

Mrs. Jean Mensa, Chairperson, Electoral Commission of Ghana, President of the Executive Committee of the AAEA

Mr. Fabio Bargiacchi, Executive Director and Founder, European Centre for Electoral Support.

Chairpersons, Commissioners, CEOs, Directors of Electoral Commissions of the AU Member States

Invited Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media

I bring you greetings from H.E Amb. Bankole Adeoye, the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security at the African Union Commission. Amb. Adeoye have had to miss this event due to the fact that the new Commission of the Africa Union is being sworn in this week with a line of activities throughout the week.

First, I want to express warm words of appreciation to Mrs. Jean Mensa and the Electoral Commission of Ghana for hosting and doing whatever was necessary to help organise this event.

Second, I want to also express the heartfelt appreciation to the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES and the Government of Italy for the continuous and enormous financial and logistic support for organising this Forum. ECES had previously supported the 7^th and 8^th EMB Fora held in Mozambique and Benin in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

I would also like to congratulate all Chairpersons, Commissioners and staff of electoral commissions that successfully conducted elections in their respective countries since we last met in 2023 and to assure those that have elections scheduled for 2025 of the support of the African Union Commission.

The African Union through the AUEOMs has been recording a lot of commendable practices in electoral processes from our Member States and these are being compiled and will be shared with you once completed.

Participants, ladies and gentlemen,

We are gathered here today and tomorrow for the 9^th Elections Management Forum an annual event organises by the African Union and its esteem partners to deliberate on crucial topics that are relevant for electoral processes and the effective management of the elections in African.

This year we took the decision to focus on addressing the problem of invalid rejected ballots in African elections. This is based on the fact that the African Union is of the view   that the high number of invalid or rejected ballots present a significant challenge to electoral integrity and electoral outcomes across the continent. These votes, which fail to count due to improper marking or other assigned reasons, effectively could potentially alter election outcomes, especially in closely contested races.

Participants, ladies and gentlemen,

To help you appreciate the magnitude of the problems let me share with you some of the data captured in the concept note:

• In Liberia's 2023 election, for example, invalid votes reached 5.89% (114,597 ballots), far exceeding the global average of 4.3%.  
• In the Kenya 2022 presidential elections, total invalid/rejected ballot stood at 113,614 representing 0.79 of total valid votes.
• Also in South Africa’s 2024 elections, invalid votes were 213,437 constituting 1.31% of total votes cast.
• More recently, in 2024, Ghana recorded a total of 247, 937 rejected ballots which accounted for 1% of total votes cast.

The issue is not limited to only the above-mentioned countries but a continental problem.

Participants, ladies and gentlemen,

Based on the above, our objective for the today and tomorrow is to seek to understand further the extent of the problem, their causes, and exploring  sustainable solutions by focusing on the following key questions, among others:

• What exactly constitutes invalid or rejected ballots?
• Who should determine whether or not a ballot should be rejected: the personnel of EMBs and party monitors or the courts?
• Do apathetic voters deliberately spoil ballot papers?
• Could ballot design be part of the problem of rejected or invalid ballots?
• What level or depth of voter and civic education are required to address the challenge?
• What is needed, beyond voter and civic education, to address the issues?
• Can technology be employed to reduce the rate of invalid or rejected ballots?

Participants, ladies and gentlemen,

As elections management bodies, political actors and civil society organisation, we believe you have practical experiences relating to theme of this forum. We therefore want to encourage you to share these experience and innovative solution that can help address them.

With these remarks, we look forward to fruitful deliberation and a successful Forum.  

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