Stakeholders Call for Enhancement of Electoral Process

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Stakeholders Call for Enhancement of Electoral Process
Stakeholders Call for Enhancement of Electoral Process

Africa-Press – Botswana. Some stakeholders have asked the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to make some improvements to the electoral process and legislative framework that would lead to enhancement of the national general elections.

Speaking during a stakeholder engagement organised by IEC in Lobatse recently, a youth, Mr Kabo Mosupi and an elder, Mr Tefo Metsing called for digitisation of the registration process.

They said the voter registration should be enhanced by adding online self-registration component for the convenience of those eligible to vote.

Lobatse Disabled Persons Association member, Mr Phatsimo Banda said people living with disabilities faced challenges of insufficient facilitation to participate in the electoral process.

The registration exercise he said, should give IEC the numbers as well as the needs of people with disabilities who would be voting, thus putting the electoral body in a good position to prepare in advance to facilitate them to partake in the voting process without hiccups.

Mr Banda said such facilitation should include availing relevant personnel such as sign language interpreters and braille readers on elections day to making voting seamless for those with disabilities.

Mr Banda also said the private sector should be engaged before registration to encourage them to release their employees to register to participate in elections.

He claimed that in the 2024 elections some employers had qualms with releasing employees to register to vote, which proved a challenge to the affected workers.

Another resident, Mr Wonder Marathe buttressed the issue, and suggested that employers across board be made aware of the importance as well as the sensitive nature of an electoral process.

Chairperson of the Lobatse Disabled Persons Association, also a member of the IEC party liaison committee, Ms Tebogo Sello reinforced calls for disabled persons to be facilitated accordingly during elections to avoid them falling prey to politicians who entice them with gifts to buy their votes.

A youth, Mr Obakeng Ditlhobolo called for intensive elections education to curb voter apathy as well as its incorporation into the secondary education syllabus to enlighten the younger generations.

Some stakeholders called for counting of parliamentary ballots to be done where council candidates ballots were tallied to remove any inkling of doubt on the voting process.

They also said tallying of ballots from the diaspora and advance poll must also be done where voting was conducted, with figures being submitted to constituencies for inclusion into the counting on elections day.

This they said would reduce post-elections litigations by politicians and political parties.

They also called for some legislative provision to be made for media personnel to vote during the advance poll as they formed an integral part of those on duty during the entire elections process.

Furthermore, they called for judicial officers such as magistrates and judges, and their spouses to be allowed to skip the queue for security reasons during national elections day.

Lobatse chief elections officer, Ms Kahundu Mutakela had brought together stakeholders, among them ward development committees, people living with disabilities, women, youth and Ministers’ Fraternal to share their views and ideas in an assessment of the past general elections exercise.

The evaluation exercise was targeted at gathering feedback in preparation for the next general elections on various components including voter registration, nomination of candidates, advance poll, voting process, verification, counting of votes and announcement of results.

Ms Mutakela said it was pertinent to carry out an evaluation exercise, adding that the IEC embraced all views regarding the entire electoral process.

She said issues raised would be shared during the national evaluation exercise to be held in Gaborone at a date to be announced, adding that recommendations that would emanate from the exercise would then be compiled into a report and be submitted to the Minister for State President.

Source: dailynews

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