What is the process by which an election observation mission is organized?
The decision to have Canada participate in an election comes from within the ranks of the Canada Corps branch of CIDA, the geographic desks at CIDA, and the Ministers’ offices at CIDA and DFAIT. The process usually begins with the Canada Corps branch of CIDA notifying CANADEM of the government’s decision to sponsor an election observation mission, at which time we conduct a search of our Roster and submit candidates to the Canada Corps branch of CIDA for final approval. Selected candidates are then contacted by the CANDEP division to initiate deployment logistics. Since all candidates must be approved by the Canada Corps branch of CIDA, there is no guarantee that any of the candidates put forth by CANADEM will be selected. As such, we tell all candidates to not make any plans for a trip, resign from their jobs, or spend any money preparing for a mission until their participation has been confirmed.
