Prince Edward Island, Canada: On September 18th, Scotland will hold a referendum on whether it should be free of British rule and recent polls indicate a vote too close to call. A Canadian democracy development organization, the International Sustainable Community Assistance association, ISCA, (www.isca-aidc.ca) will be monitoring the vote. Lloyd Dalziel, the observation mission coordinator and chair of ISCA, says that professional and well trained election observers are more important than ever when the vote is too close to call. “It is now accepted that all national elections in developed or developing countries must not only be fair and free BUT must also be seen to be fair and free.”
The International Sustainable Community Assistance group (ISCA), an economic and democratic development NGO based in Prince Edward Island, Canada, has received applications from dozens of individuals from North America and beyond for an opportunity to participate as international election observers in this historic vote. While in Scotland, the 16 international observers, from as far away as Barbados and as close as Ireland, will receive training covering various aspects of election monitoring and the chance to observe voting during the referendum as officially accredited international observers. “All election observers will be based in Edinburgh and on voting day will visit up to 10-13 polling stations” said Lloyd Dalziel, the election observation coordinator. “Each team of three observers will have the chance to monitor polling stations, both in Edinburgh and also in the small rural villages”. The mission will be an opportunity to introduce observers to the fundamental principles of election monitoring and a once in a lifetime opportunity for participants to be in Scotland during this unique time in the country’s 1500 year history, added Dalziel.
ISCA-AIDC has been working in areas of democracy development both in Canada and overseas since 2006. Last fall it organized the first North American BRIDGE training in Ottawa. BRIDGE, or Building Resources in Democracy, Governance, and Elections, is the world leading curriculum for electoral practitioners used by many electoral commissions throughout the world and the United Nations Development Organization. The organization also supports community level democratic development using the cooperative model which it employs in its development work in Haiti and East Africa. Mr. Dalziel has served as an electoral monitor and adviser with organizations such as the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the European Union. “The mission is scheduled for September 12-21, and while observers will be busy with training, pre-deployment planning, voting observation and debriefings, there still will be plenty of time for touring some of the historic sites in Scotland”, says Dalziel. “This September is set to be an exciting and historic period for Scotland with the holding of the independence referendum and the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn”, added Dalziel. The chair of ISCA stated that an additional electoral observation mission is planned for Egypt in November. For more information on the Observation Mission to the Scottish Referendum and ISCA’s work, visit www.isca-aidc.ca, email info@isca-aidc.ca or call 902-628-6576.