South Africa’s national and provincial elections are coming up soon. Voting will open to South Africans on Wednesday. The country’s citizens residing overseas already began voting last Friday.

A Russian observation mission arrives in South Africa prior to the elections, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the delegation and the chairman of the Commission on Protecting State Sovereignty of Russia’s Civic Chamber, told Sputnik.

“[The commission] includes representatives of the Civic Chamber of Russia. We are accredited by the independent election commission of South Africa as international observers and have received a mandate to monitor the voting process. There is a lot of work to be done,” Rogov said.

According to him, a meeting between the Russian delegation and the representative of the President of South Africa in BRICS has already taken place.

An observation mission from the African Union already arrived in the country last week. Earlier this month, the Southern African Development Community also announced its intention to form its own monitoring commission.

Last Sunday, the country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa is fully prepared to hold “free” and “fair” general elections, adding that security forces have carried out the necessary work to prevent unrest during the upcoming elections.