IEC registers 250 voter objection cases
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Wednesday June 4, 2014 16:09
The IEC chief elections officer Dintle Rapoo said that the unprecedented high number of objections emanated from candidates of different political parties, alleging trafficking of voters by opponents.
He said most of the cases are from Mogoditshane and Selebi-Phikwe. Rapoo said it is the first time for the IEC to register this high number of objections in the history of the IEC.
“This means that those who will be found guilty by the courts will either be fined and barred from voting in the coming elections for five years or face jail term. People should know that this is a serious offence,” he said.
Although the majority of cases have not yet been finalised by the courts, politicians are complaining that they have realised that some plot numbers do not exist in their wards but they found these errors too late to object. Of recent, there have been media reports about how some politicians manipulated the voters’ roll.
A Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) nominated councillor in Bobirwa, Goja Dikinya, and five IEC officers are under investigations over the issue of voter trafficking allegations.
The IEC commissioner in the 2009 report, showed a concern by some voters who do not comply with the law on registration by either registering in constituencies/polling districts where they did not have residences or where they did not have their principal residences.
The IEC commissioner observed that while the law provides for the removal of voters who registered unlawfully from the voters’ roll, it is silent on the action to be taken against the aspirant of political office who encourages this unlawful activity.