During an election, the Commission sets up an Election Support Centre at National Level and in each province to streamline the monitoring of activities at provincial level.
The Election Support Centre (ESC) is a cross-departmental support system that is set up to provide support to key areas of electoral activities before, during and after the poll. The centre comprise representatives from various departments offering operational support as well as facilitating for quick responses to various election related matters.
Objectives
- To facilitate for the monitoring of the election activities in the field.
- To provide near real time reports on the progress of key poll activity areas
- To ensure timely transmission of results from the Totaling Centres to the National Results Centre.
- To timely resolve operational challenges before, during and after the poll.
Scope
The Scope of the ESC is monitoring and providing support to the following key activity areas before, during and after the poll:
- Deployment and distribution of election staff and materials
- Opening and closing of the polling stations, counting and announcement of results at the polling station
- Redeployment, collation, announcement, transmission and declaration of results.
Sections of the ESC
ESC has the following sections operating at National Election Support Centre:
- Election Field Support
- ICT Help Desk
- Call Centre
- Information and Verification Centre
National Election Field Support
The National Election Field Support (NESC) liaises with the Provincial Election Field Support in monitoring progress towards the implementation of key poll activities. The unit also facilitates for quick remedial actions to reported incidences until they are resolved.
Provincial Election Field Support
Provincial Election Field Support Centres (PESCs) are established in all the ten provinces and have representation of staff from all constituencies of each district in a respective province.
The PESC uses communication officers per constituency to communicate directly to election officials deployed in the field and report back on progress or threats that needs urgent attention. The information is transmitted to the National Election Support Centre for prompt decision making and escalation of issues to the relevant authorities.