IEC registers a drop in spoiled votes
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Tuesday November 18, 2014 16:45
Also, IEC had registered 2.11 percent of spoiled votes in the 2004 general election, which reflects a 0.94 percent decline a decade later.
International standards require a review of the election process if a country registered five percent of spoiled votes or more.
The IEC has never registered over three percent of spoiled votes.
IEC spokesperson, Osupile Maroba, revealed that in 2009, they registered 8,167 spoiled votes compared to 10,661 registered this year.
“The numbers were high compared to 2009 because only 555,308 had voted in those elections compared to this year where the number increased.
Over 824,000 had registered to vote but only 699,000 people voted in 2014. Our aim is that we should always register less than two percent of spoiled votes because there is no way we can register zero percent,” Maroba said.
Maroba said that there are a lot of things that contribute to spoiled votes including illiteracy and protest voting.
He said that IEC would keep on educating people about voting, adding that they are still compiling the election report.
Maroba said that during the election the IEC managed to curb long queues by introducing call centres and queuing alphabetically.
He said by 16:00 hours in many polling stations, more than 75 percent of people who had registered had already gone to the polls.
“We had lesser complaints as compared to 2009. Even media personnel helped us a lot because it was easier for them to get first hand information. There was also good cooperation from the people,” he said.