Govt ignores calls for electoral reforms

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Wednesday August 18, 2010 00:00

Participants said that after the 1999 and 2004 general elections, observers made recommendations that government has failed to implement. So far there are over 60 recommendations that election observers have recommended for implementation, and there is no hope that government will act upon them, said one of the participants.

Among the recommendations is that there is need for a constitutional amendment to provide for election of the president by popular vote. The participants said that the current regime has stated that the constitution is perfect in its current form and it should not be amended.

The other recommendations are that prisoners be allowed to vote, a subject that was close to Botlogile Tshireletso's heart during her days as a backbencher.

She was returning from an observer mission in South Africa last year when she stated that she would table a motion calling on government to allow prisoners to vote.  Earlier, she had made indications that she wants government to consider funding of political parties as a gesture of encouraging fair play. Since her appointment as assistant minister last year, she has kept quiet on the issue.

Meanwhile, the observers have recommended that government consider transferring the powers and mandate of the Delimitation Commission to the IEC, in time for the 2012 exercise to be carried out.  They have also recommended that the registration card be dealt away with and replaced by the National Identity card (Omang) as proof of voter eligibility for voting.  The IEC executive secretary, Gabriel Seeletso, said that voters are often denied the right to vote after losing their registration cards. He said most of them try to replace the lost cards during polling day, which is impossible, due to limited manpower at IEC. The observers have recommended that Botswana should consider ratifying the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance to enhance its democratic standing.

'Botswana should review the format and structure of the voters' roll in order to minimise the search time for names. Registration numbers should appear numerically,' they also said. Yesterday's meeting was organised for introspection into the performance of the IEC in the 2009 general election.

'As you maybe aware, the election process is a cycle, and therefore having conducted the 2009 general election, we need to now take account of how we performed as an organisation, and come up with recommendations that will help mitigate identified shortcomings if any, either administrative or legal, as we prepare for 2014 general election,' chairman of the IEC, Justice Monametsi Gaongalelwe said.  The final document on the recommendations will be presented to the Office of the President for it to see whether to come up with amendments on the Electoral Act or the constitution.

Observers have called for total autonomy of the IEC from the executive to allow it to do its work without fear or favour.