02 Nov 2016

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is to educate the community on the usage of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) at an appropriate time.

 The IEC principal elections officer Ms Pelonomi Selemogwe-Kwaramba relayed this during the Party Liaison Committee meeting in Ramotswa recently.

 She said the IEC secretariat had already scheduled to address stakeholders meetings around the country on the new development.

 However she said after the acquisition of the EVM, the public would be thoroughly educated to ready them for upcoming general elections.

 The IEC principal elections officer further told the meeting that the new development was a response from stakeholders’ feedback on the previous general elections.

She said benchmarking exercises to countries which use the machine had been done and added that what was left was for the country to make a final determination.

 On other issues, she said the IEC office had continued its outreach programmes on young people and they had instituted the formation of Democracy Youth Clubs in schools to inculcate the culture of voting at an early age.
She said some school had already started to have the clubs while only a few were still lagging behind.

Ms Selemogwe-Kwaramba also added that they have held meetings with youth organisations within the district to sensitise them on issues of elections.

During comments, Party Liaison Committee members said the IEC secretariat should also include them in its schedules to disseminating information to their political parties and organisations.

 The committee members also emphasised the need for speedy procurement of the voting machines so that public education starts on time.

Furthermore, they said there were issues that they needed to raise with the IEC leadership.

Party Liaison Committee is made of representatives from different political parties, non-government organisations, Ministers Fraternal and People Living with Disabilities. ENDS