Taking into account the lessons learned from the previous elections and the changing needs of the Congolese electoral administration, the UN electoral assistance has progressively put an emphasis on capacity building. As it was the case for the national and provincial elections, UNDP, through PACE (Projet d’Appui au Cycle Electoral or Support Project for the Electoral Cycle), will once again manage the financial contributions of the international community. Unlike APEC (the previous Electoral Process Support Project of the UNDP), PACE will include the support to operational activities. PACE is involved in: (i) supporting all operational activities related to the local elections and (ii) capacity building for the next electoral cycle in order to promote a sustainable electoral system in the DRC. [Link to the PACE project in French  

 

 

This evolution is reflected in the creation of two assistant director posts forplanning, operations and capacity building within the Electoral Division of MONUC. While the integrated working group Electoral Division/PACE remains its focus on the support of electoral operations in order to enable the local elections, it also concentrates on long term capacity building. With these goals in mind MONUC continues to pursue its logistical support to the electoral operations. Sharing the same office building, Electoral Division and PACE work closely together with their counterparts of the IEC.

 

 

Capacity building is the key word in the new approach towards electoral assistance in the DRC, with well defined goals both in the short and in the long term.

The capacity building approach seeks to promote a sustainable electoral system for the DRC that goes hand in hand with a sustainable development in other domains of society. An electoral system can only be sustainable if it is able to organize credible, periodical elections with limited or no external support.

 

Although the electoral assistance that the UN provides remains substantial in its methodology as well as in its objectives, it has become more specific taking into account the gradual retreat of the MONUC Electoral Division. Due to its commitment to ensure democratic governance, its different programs and projects as well as its connections with different national and international stakeholders it focuses less on the electoral events as such but rather on the continuity of the electoral process. What has become a priority are the long term goals such as professional development, institutional support, streamlining technical, organizational and operational processes while ensuring that cost effective thinking underlies all decision making. By prioritizing local solutions the UN electoral support team encourages the country to acquire the electoral process.