28 Jun 2018

Party Liaison Committee (PLC) members have been urged to familiarise themselves with the electoral law.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chief public relations officer, Mr Osupile Maroba said as critical stakeholders they should consult and require feedback at intervals.

Speaking at the Nkange and Nata/Gweta constituency PLC meeting in Nata recently, Mr Maroba said members should request update from those they interact with during their day to day  operations.

He said there were situations of violation of Section 149 of the Electoral Act where people fail to keep secrets of what happened at polling stations or counting centres, adding that polling agents gave out names of voters who had voted, in order to determine those who had not voted.

Some voters photograph their marked ballot papers and publish them on social media as well as communicating counting updates on various platforms, he said.

Mr Maroba said if convicted, such a person would be liable to a fine of P7 500, adding that some political party agents keep voters’ registration cards and Omang cards of would be voters until election day, which he said was against the law.

He encouraged members to sensitise voters about safekeeping of their documents and relevance of voter registration cards.

Mr Maroba said during post-electoral period they come across misplaced voter registration cards, noting that the cards were not only for voting council and Parliament candidates, but also could be required during national decisions on matters concerning the public and those without them would not participate.

He said the voter turnout had been low compared to that of 2014, hence the need for robust efforts from all stakeholders to promote participation.

He said the department of Civil and National Registration anticipated that 1 592 350 people would be eligible to register by November 11 as they would have turned 18, saying the requirements for registration still remained the same as one must be a Motswana of 18 years with a valid Omang card.

Responding to members regarding the possibility of using the electronic voting machine during the 2019 general elections, Mr Maroba said the matter was still before the courts .

He nonetheless said preparation on the ground for 2019 general elections had nothing to do with the Electronic Voter Machine  court case.

He further said the registration period would take two and half months, which translates to 10 and half weeks to provide enough window for registration in case the Electoral (Amendment) Act of 2016 came into effect.

Responding to a member who requested the machine be brought to rural areas so that they familiarise themselves with it, Mr Maroba said the machine was not yet available.

Earlier on, Tutume principal election officer, Ms Basadi Ntshotelang said PLC members were critical to the election process, hence the IEC needed their feedback so as to disseminate information that Batswana required.

She said as a way to empower the youth, the commission would engage out-of-school youth as registration clerks and supervisors.

Ms Ntshotelang said the youth would be given an opportunity to be involved in the election process as they were also encouraged to vote in large numbers, but she was worried that some of the youth who apply do not attach their certificates.

She said the recruitment process had commenced and was facilitated by the 25 IEC offices across the country.

Nata/Gweta youth programmes officer, Ms Sethunya Motswaiso applauded IEC for giving the youth employment opportunities, saying it was important that the posts were widely publicised so that youth in the rural areas also benefit. ENDS