IEC Shares Revealing Insights

She noted that the national stakeholder evaluation report has uncovered that the delayed repeal of the Electoral Amendment (2016) hurt preparations for the 2019 General Election.

Serumula added the high number of election petitions offered a learning opportunity in preparation for future polls. “Some of the findings include the lack of civic and voter education mandate, which impede robust engagement with electoral stakeholders; lack of IEC Act compromises the independence of the IEC; the manual voter registration process as labour intensive; and the human error-prone, abuse of social media to the detriment of the integrity of the electoral process, appreciation of the conduct of the evaluation workshop as a platform for consultation on electoral processes, and low participation of marginalised groups due to lack of resources and absence of special dispensation,” she said. Serumula noted that some recommendations that were made by the stakeholder evaluation were either submitted, taken to Cabinet, or the Executive.