Cabinet approves political party funding
Sharon Mathala | Monday December 25, 2023 06:00
This comes after proposals from Batswana and a recommendation from the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Review of the Constitution.
The recommendation was that “Political party funding be introduced based on parliamentary seats won by parties in the immediate past General Election at the rate of not less than P50,000 or such amount as may be determined by Parliament from time to time per Member of Parliament.”
Batswana wanted the Constitution to include a new Act which would allow political party funding based on parliamentary seats won by parties in the immediate past General Elections, at a rate not less than P50,000.00.
Cabinet has finally approved this but proposes that the amount should be based on the affordability by government. In their formula, the current Cabinet wants the funding to be determined as 20% of P2 million for a seat won by a male candidate whilst female candidates be 30% of the P2 million. However, Cabinet wants all political parties that receive the funding, which would be from public funds, to account for the use of the monies to the Office of the Auditor General after the elections.
Cabinet has also refused the proposal from some Batswana that ballots for the elections for members of Parliament to be counted at polling stations rather than being taken to the central counting centres.
Stating their reasons, they say it will be costly to the government. They say the same officers used in the counting process are the same officers used at the counting centres, so this may subject them to long working hours if they were to count the ballot papers at the polling stations. Cabinet also believes that security may be compromised if counting is done at open space polling stations.
“If counting is done where voting takes place, there is a risk of compromising confidentiality in that it will be easier to determine from the numbers of those who voted for which candidate thereby compromising the security of the voters,” Cabinet believes.