04 Aug 2016

 The control administrative officer for the Electoral Commission of Namibia, Mr Thomas Shapi has commended the good relations between his organisation and Botswana’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

Speaking at a workshop aimed at sensitising stakeholders about the electronic voting machine in Jwaneng on Wednesday, Mr Shapi said they were honoured to share their experiences with Botswana. He said the IEC and other stakeholders had an opportunity to observe the machine in use during the elections in Namibia last year, something which he said gave them first-hand information about its operations.

“Namibia is the first country in Africa to use the machine and we are hopeful that after these benchmarking exercises, Botswana will become the second country in Africa to use it,” he said.

The IEC secretary, Mr Gabriel Seeletso said Botswana and Namibia shared a lot of similarities and it was ideal for them to benchmark with the electoral commission of Namibia. 

“We appreciate Namibia’s openness and willingness to share their experience with the electronic voting machine with us,” he said.

He noted that electronic voting system was subject to approval by Parliament, after which more people would be trained on its operations.

However, Mr Seeletso acknowledged that, like every new project, they were anticipating resistance from some Batswana.

For his part, chairman of the Southern District Council, Mr Mephato Reatile said as part of the delegation that went to observe the electronic voting system in India in 2010, the machine was the ultimate solution for the challenges faced by Botswana elections.ENDS