ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) on Friday called on African political parties to exert concerted efforts so as to ensure citizens' participation in Africa's political landscape.
The urgent call was made by Khabele Matlosa, Director of the Department of Political Affairs at the AU Commission, who also stressed the AU's "deliberate efforts to ensure citizen participation, including through political parties."
"Political parties are key to the advancement of citizen political participation in Africa," an AU statement quoted Matlosa as saying, as the 55-member pan African bloc emphasized its continued ambition, through the Department of Political Affairs, to engage with political parties in Africa "as key agents of democratic and participatory governance."
"African political parties can make or break democratization and peace building," the AU director of political affairs stressed.
"Political parties are key actors during elections, and critical players in the formation of governments - parliament, executive and the judiciary- as such the first two institutions being constituted largely through political parties," Matlosa added.
According to Matlosa, the pan African bloc "has made considerable progress on supporting electoral processes in Africa," which enabled the AU to observe an average of 18 electoral processes across the continent annually, as well as the provision of technical assistance to Election Management Bodies.
Matlosa also stressed the AU's mandate to develop political parties, as they are essential instruments to the AU's ambition to promote democratization and good governance across the African continent, as underlined in the AU Constitutive Act framework.
Matlosa also encouraged African political parties to exert due emphasis on issues concerning refugees and forced displacement in Africa, as well as to invest more efforts in early warning efforts to curb forced displacement of people across the continent.
He further called on Africa's political parties to exert more concerted efforts on the AU's flagship "Silencing the Guns" program, as stipulated by the AU Commission in declaring the year 2020 as the year of silencing the guns.
Matlosa also urged African political parties to play an important role in terms of preventing conflicts in the African continent.
The AU political affairs director's call came as the AU brought together more than 20 representatives of various political parties from East African countries for a two-day regional workshop on Thursday in line with the Political Parties Program that AU decided back in 2017.
The AU's new continental initiative, which is implemented by the Department of Political Affairs of the AU Commission, is guided by the 2007 African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance (ACDEG), which urges AU member countries to "strengthen political institutions to entrench a culture of democracy and peace," it was noted.
The new political initiative is also expected to contribute towards realizing Aspirations 3 and 4 of the AU's 50-year continental development Agenda 2063.
Aspirations 3 and 4 of the AU's Agenda 2063 envision "an Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law" as well as "a peaceful and secure Africa" respectively.
The Department of Political Affairs of the AU Commission introduced the Political Parties Program in a bid to strengthen the capacity of Political Parties in AU member countries, in line with ACDEG.
In March this year, the AU had organized the first regional Political Parties Program workshop for the West African region.
