Voting abandoned in Rasesa
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday October 20, 2014 17:23
The IEC found itself in all sorts of problems on Saturday as civil servants went to the polls ahead of the Friday general elections.
On Saturday problems ranged from missing ballot papers of candidates, insufficient ballot paper, voters finding that they have been transferred to a different polling district without their knowledge, among others. In some places voting was continuing yesterday due to delays in delivering ballot papers.
Alfred Pilane of the IEC says in Rasesa they omitted two party symbols, the UDC and the BCP for council candidates, and said the affected parties are meeting with the IEC today (Monday) to resolve the matter and those civil servants will have to vote before Friday”.
What worries Pilane most is that it might be difficult to trace those voters again. He said at Bophirima ward in Mochudi again voters had to wait for an hour for ballot papers to arrive from Gaborone after they had ran out.
IEC executive secretary Gabriel Seeletso said they had to stop the voting process at Rasesa ward because of the mistake on the ballot paper. The IEC found itself running helter- skelter on Saturday as they ran out of ballot papers all over the country.
IEC was forced to hire Botswana Police Service helicopter to deliver the ballot papers across the country after the errors.
IEC election officer Dintle Rapoo blamed the civil servants for the mess saying people seemed to be fearful and mistrusting the IEC with information as many withheld information regarding where they want to vote, or when, only to suffice on the day of election on Saturday.
The IEC says since many voters seemed scared to disclose the information the IEC had to work on estimation, which did not help matters. In Goodhope voting was going on yesterday because of late arrival of ballot papers. Meanwhile this did not go well with politicians who believe that the whole system of ballot shortage had discouraged other voters from voting.
“” Everything is in place as I speak, and what has happened on Saturday would not happen on Friday because we know where everyone is going to vote. The statistics is the one which will guide us,” Seeletso said.