African Union-led task force to observe Burkina Faso's elections

Jean Omer Beriziky, former prime minister of the Republic of Madagascar, is leading an African Union Short-Term Observation Mission (STO) to monitor Burkina Faso's general elections on Sunday after the government requested the mission.

The mission will remain in Burkina Faso until Dec. 5.

The African Union Electoral Observation Mission's (AUEOM) 60 observers come from the Pan African Parliament, the Permanent Representative Committee (PRC) of the African Union, election management bodies, thinks tanks, civil society organizations, and academic and media groups.

The observers will review and provide input on how the election is conducted. They will assess the processes and make sure they are in keeping with such guidelines as the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance; the OAU/AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa; the African Union Guidelines for Election Observation and Monitoring Missions; the International Covenant on Civil Political Rights (ICCPR); the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); and the 2005 Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation.