20 Dec 2019

 Parliament has passed the Electoral Amendment Bill 2019, No 30 of 2019 which seeks to increase the threshold for election expenses from P50 000 to P2million.

In his presentation, the Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Kabo Morwaeng said the Bill seeks to review increase of the threshold for election expenses to a reasonable figure.

He said in 2004, Section 81 of the Electoral Act was amended to enact increase of election expenses to P50 000, but the limit has not been reviewed since then.

According to law, following the dissolution of Parliament, candidates were not allowed to spend more the P50 000 for campaigns. The increase, therefore, seeks to cater for and take into account the latest campaign trends.

Mr Morwaeng said the government had observed that over the years, there had been a significant increase in the intensity of campaigns as candidates strived to win votes from potential voters and the 2019 general election was not an exception.

“As a way of trying to appeal to the electorates, political parties and candidates have increasingly resorted to the use of digital campaigning such as television, billboards and other electronic media,” he said.

He said digital and online campaigning had proved to be effective ways and means of reaching out to voters, especially young voters, as well as those living in the diaspora.

Notwithstanding, he said the campaigning methods, especially the placement of adverts on television and billboards have proved costly for candidates.

In view of the foregoing factors including inflammatory factors, he said P50 000 threshold set by section 81 of the Act was very low and had the undesired result of creating compliance challenges for candidates. BOPA Okaile Lo (20/12/2019)