Shortage of ballot papers and chaos during advance voting stage
Staff Writer | Tuesday November 5, 2024 14:33
This led to some voters being denied their right to vote on that day. This issue raises serious questions about the readiness of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to conduct the general elections on October 30, 2024.
During an interview with Btv1 on October 20, 2024, the IEC chairperson, indicated that indeed some people were unable to vote at some polling stations, including those abroad. The Secretary of the IEC explained that the shortage of ballot papers had been caused by the fact that most of those eligible for advance voting did not respond to the IEC, when asked to indicate at which polling station they had been registered to vote.
This, in spite of the IEC having conducted their registration process. As a result of the low number of responses, the IEC explained that it had consequently only printed a limited number of ballot papers, guided by the number of people who had responded to their enquiry. We also learned from the interview that 10 polling stations for the Diaspora voters had experienced challenges, and that elections would be organised again for them on October 26, 2024.
There were also three polling stations, which were re-opened on October 26, 2024, for advance voters at polling stations where there had been challenges, which risked affecting the legitimacy of their votes.
The late dissolution of Parliament had a huge impact on the preparation time of the IEC. Parliament was dissolved on September 5, unlike the usual practice of dissolution in the first or second week of August. The delay this year related to the maturation date (September 4) of the Constitution Amendment Bill of 2024.
The Bill failed to pass due to insufficient votes in Parliament. As a result of all the delay, the nomination of parliamentary and council candidates was done on October 4, leaving a limited amount of time for the IEC to print the ballot papers. The IEC could only start printing the ballot papers after the nomination of parties and of candidates had been completed.
Democracy is a cornerstone of good governance. Regular, free, fair and credible elections are integral to liberal democracy. This calls for all to act in accordance with the law, with national, regional and international standards and best practices. These standards include the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections. We, therefore, reiterate our call for the complete independence of the IEC. This calls for a review of the power of the President in the appointing of the Secretary of the IEC, as Section 66 of the Constitution of Botswana provides.
We call upon the government of Botswana to encourage, promote, protect, uphold and support democracy, democratic principles and processes. These should be done for the protection of the dignity, equality of all people and human rights. All people who have registered should be able to vote without any complications, as this will prove that the country was ready for elections.
We also call upon the Independent IEC to ensure that the voting polls are safe, transparent, free, fair, peaceful and also accessible to all those who have registered. The IEC should also ensure that there are enough voting materials to cater for all registered voters, in order to prevent what happened on October 19, 2024. The advance voting chaos should be treated as a lesson learnt and be used to prepare for the upcoming general elections on October 3, 2024.
We urge the IEC to ensure that these issues are solved and in doing that, they should ensure Batswana are updated about all of the actions taken towards rectifying those mistakes.