He told Mmegi that as of yesterday, candidates had not seen the final voters’ roll. He questioned how the candidates are supposed to observe the elections without the roll.
He said there would be no way of knowing if all the names are in the voters’ roll.
He said this goes contrary to claims by the Independence Electoral Commission (IEC) that candidates are partners in the running of elections.
He stated that the candidates will be mere spectators with no stake in the running of the elections because they will not have any way of verifying the voters’ roll.
He expressed concern that while the parties were given segments of the voters’ rolls for verification, there have been corrections to the final voters’ rolls.
He said it was necessary for candidates to verify whether the corrections were effected correctly.
Modubule criticised the IEC for only availing the election roll to returning officers. “How are we supposed to see these elections as free and fair?”
In response the IEC Secretary Gabriel Seeletso, asserted that he does not have an obligation to provide political parties with copies of the election roll.
He explained that following the issuance of the Writ of Elections, his responsibility is to make sure the election roll is ready by the date of elections - October 16 and October 30.
He added that the law only requires him to present returning officers with voters’ rolls at each polling station, which he said the IEC has already done for the Saturday elections.
Seeletso explained that the IEC has been flexible in an effort to create a good working relationship with politicians.
The IEC says it advised politicians to bring discs so that the rolls would be copied for them. Seeletso said the IEC cannot print the election roll for all political parties.
