The Credentials Committee of ECOSOCC held three meetings in Accra, Yaoundé and Addis Ababa in June, September and October 2007 respectively, to shortlist candidates for elections into the ECOSOCC General Assembly. Overall, the Committee received and examined two hundred and eighty three (283) applications from CSOs in forty-four (44) African countries and the five regions of the continent. At the end of the exercise the Committee adjudged twenty-five (25) countries and three regions (West, South and East) ready for elections. Enough qualified applications were also received for the election of CSO representatives at the continental level.

The ECOSOCC Secretariat wishes to inform the general public and the African civil society community in particular that elections have already begun and are ongoing in the countries and regions adjudged ready for elections by the Credentials Committee. Thus far, elections have been held in six Members States and one region of the Union and also at the continental level. In all, twenty-two (22) CSO representatives have been elected into the ECOSOCC General Assembly – comprising eight (8) continental, two (2) regional and twelve (12) national CSO representatives. Preparations are afoot to have elections held in the remaining countries that are ready for elections.

In order to allow for the representation of CSOs from all the member states of the Union, as well as the five regions of the continent as stipulated in Article 4 of the ECOSOCC Statutes, and in furtherance of Executive Council Decision EX.CL/Dec.384(XII) which, amongst others, requires that the ECOSOCC election process be completed by 30 April 2008, the deadline for the receipt of applications from prospective African civil society groupings for elections to the ECOSOCC General Assembly in twenty eight (28) African countries and the Central and Northern regions of the continent, from which no applications or no sufficient number of eligible applications were received, has been extended to 15 March 2008. The countries concerned are: Angola, Botswana, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sahawari Democratic Republic, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland, Togo and Zimbabwe.