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Association of Caribbean Electoral Organizations (ACEO) |
ACEO (Association of Caribbean Election Organizations) was born out of the “Caribbean Election Network Conference” held in Kingston, Jamaica in January 1997. The conference brought together election officials from 22 countries and dependent territories, which agreed to plan for the first pan-Caribbean association dedicated to election administration.
The overall objective of the ACEO is to foster a self-sufficient mechanism of horizontal cooperation among electoral organizations in the Caribbean to improve their capability to register voters, promote voter turnout and implement elections.
The founding meeting of the ACEO was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1998. The Association was officially established with 17 founding members: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, and U.S. Virgin Islands. Anguilla, Aruba, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines later joined the Association, bringing the total members to 22. Trinidad and Tobago is the current chair of the ACEO. The secretariat is housed in Jamaica.
As outlined in the Charter adopted March 31, 1998, the purpose of the ACEO is to promote co-operation and mutual assistance among electoral organisations in the Caribbean in the pursuit of democracy by processes that ensure free and fair elections.
Per its founding bylaws, ACEO membership includes electoral organizations in the Caribbean, which could include more than one authority, such as the case in Jamaica and Belize where the electoral commission and the electoral office are separate entities with different responsibilities.
The OAS Department for Electoral Cooperation and Observation has been in continuous contact with the electoral authorities of the member states, and actively participates in the Association’s activities.
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