Africa-Press – Botswana. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) will start to demarcate polling districts in April.
The demarcation involves the division of constituencies into polling districts for purposes of electing representatives to councils or Parliament.
The exercise will pave the way for the national voters’ registration towards the end of the year, says IEC Secretary, Mr Jefferson Siamisang.
He said the exercise would be done in line with the constitution and the Electoral Act.
Briefing Kgatleng District councillors on Monday, he said following the delimitation exercise the Electoral Act provided that as soon as constituencies had been established, the secretary should divide each constituency into polling districts and should establish one or more polling stations in each polling district.
He said each of the 61 constituencies would have a demarcation committee that would help constituents to familiarise themselves with the boundaries of their polling districts and polling stations so that they could contribute to the exercise.
Mr Siamisang said demarcation committees would be chaired by district commissioners or district officers and that ex-officio members would include dikgosi as they knew their tribal administrative areas.
He added that other committee members would include representatives of people with disabilities, women representatives and youth and church council representatives.
He said the committees would be facilitated by IEC officers who would serve as co-secretaries with land surveyors and physical planners.
The committees would be appointed, trained and tasked by the secretary, he said, adding that they would thereafter make recommendations to the secretary of the commission.
Mr Siamisang also said the committees would be required to pay attention to the population density, population quota, means of communication, geographic features, existing patterns of human settlements, constituency boundaries, existing boundaries and community interests.
He urged councillors to take the exercise seriously and contribute as it affected everyone.
He also urged them to reflect on the status of their current polling districts and to suggest what to do to ensure the exercise was done appropriately.
He said the demarcation and establishment of polling stations was sensitive assignments, and if not done properly, could lead to disgruntlement and unrest. Mr Siamisang appealed to the committees to adhere to IEC values that included impartiality, professionalism, transparency, team work, inclusivity, credibility and botho.
The law, she said, would be strictly applied to avoid disgruntlements and voter trafficking.
He asked councillors to encourage their constituents to abide by the law as they registered for elections.
Mr Siamisang noted that there were currently 490 council wards or polling districts for councillors and that they would be increased following the increase of constituencies.
He added that the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, guided by the allocated budget, would determine the number of wards.
Mr Siamisang explained that the demarcation of polling districts ensured the redistribution of population in order to prevent imbalances across constituencies or polling districts.
He said the establishment of polling stations on the other hand was intended to ensure accessibility of electoral processes such as registration and voting at the convenience of the voter.
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