10 Apr 2023

Minister for State President, Mr Kabo Morwaeng has emphasised the need to review laws with a view to maintain their credibility and restore democratic principles.

Responding to comments made by some MPs on the Electoral (Amendment) Bill of 2023 presented in Parliament recently, Minister Morwaeng appreciated their contributions saying they were important in improving the Electoral Act.

However, the minister said some members were focused on the sections of the Electoral Act earmarked for amendment while others were more concerned with issues that would not be addressed by the Bill but would rather be discussed in future and whenever the need arise.

Additionally, he said it was normal for politicians to differ in political principles, but the conflicting views did not mean that one must promote negative and baseless opinions with the likelihood to mislead the society.

He said it had been evident that the previous general elections had been pronounced as free and fair as well as peaceful and transparent as supported by reports from observers and other interested parties, adding that all the current politicians holding office were democratically elected.

“The electoral laws in place are serving the interests of the society hence the peace and tranquillity in the country. They therefore ought to be reviewed in order to continue to do so,” he added.

Also, he said the elections laws in place would not be completely impeccable, therefore the need to continually review them in order to be comparable with the changes.

“Every electoral process adopted to be used in any given country has its ups and downs, therefore the first past post system used in the country will have its advantages and disadvantages,” he said.

Mr Morwaeng said the idea of political party funding was also a welcome development, as it was viewed as a mechanisms to level the playground.

However, he said government was currently faced with financial constraints, therefore priority was given to programmes aimed at uplifting livelihoods of the general populace. He said the limited funds were prioritised towards other competing needs.

On the suggestion to have ballots counted at respective polling stations, Mr Morwaeng said currently it was impossible to do so owing to security challenges.

“We need to understand that the security of the polls must never be compromised. 

The current challenge will be providing enough security at all polling stations. Central locations where ballots were counted at were manned by 10 police officers. There were 2 260 polling stations, therefore counting of ballots at the respective polling stations will require more than 22 000 police officers to provide security,” he said.

Responding to misgivings by some legislators on the need to have ballot papers ‘embossed’, the minister explained that the ballot paper that was currently used had proved to be difficult to do with printing machines.

“Embossing of ballot papers was never done in the past elections, instead ballot papers were perforated. The law allows for the use of both or either of such security features. Therefore the proposed provision is for ballot papers to be marked with an official mark, which shall be in the form to be determined by the Independent Electoral Commission,” he said.

He said amending the Electoral Act would strengthen the security and secrecy of one’s vote, therefore disallowing use recording and video gadgets inside polling booths.

Further, he said it would further reinforce penalties against anyone who was to commit an offence and likely to disturb the transparent, free and fair running of an election.

“It is unfortunate that some legislators are against the stringent fines, therefore wondering what their fear is as all they must do is to avoid breaking the law,” he said. ENDS