27 Feb 2020

Management of an electoral process is important to countries, which hold regular democratic elections, participants at a stakeholder evaluation workshop have said.

Speaking at a workshop for evaluation of 2019 general elections in Gaborone on Tuesday, participants stated that election management was a process whose complexities should not be overlooked.

Director of International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), Professor Adebayo Olukoshi, said electoral management bodies should be sufficiently funded to ensure their independence and to strengthen democracy on the continent.

Prof Olukoshi said political party funding was also important because it could level the playing field and also avoid instances of state capture by those who funded political parties.

Prof Olukoshi said for a country that had the most competitive election in its history, Botswana held remarkably calm elections.

He said the 2019 elections were reflective of a political culture that was embedded on the nation.

Representative for Organisation for Youth and Elections in Botswana, Mr Bernard Bogosi said voter apathy remained a major concern. 

He said it was important for the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to sensitise youth on the importance of participating in the electoral process since they represented majority of the population.

Faith-based organisations representative, Reverend Gabrial Tsuaneng said the church was an important player in elections and that its presence should not be ignored.

He said the church had large following, hence its involvement being imperative during the sensitive elections atmosphere.

“The church existed long before democratic dispensation and godly involvement is equally more important for moral direction and divine intervention,” he stated.

He said lack of interest for some voters was due to the fact that there were unfulfilled promises by candidates at council and parliament. 

He also cited that voter education was important to widen the reach for potential voters’ registration as most people were not enlightened. He said the church had also observed that some candidates were reckless in the use of language. 

He therefore called on political parties to engage their candidates on the use of unpalatable language and induct them on how to canvass for votes without insulting other candidates.

Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO) executive director, Mr Botho Seboko, encouraged IEC to continue joining hands with the civil society and people living with disabilities in an effort to ease carrying out of elections.

He said through involvement of civic groups, government listened to concerns against the use of electronic voting machine which was later turned down. 

Election officers were of the view that voter registration should be transparent to avoid complaints from candidates and the general public.

They were also of the view that there should be policies that speak to interference by other actors during elections as often the candidates and election officers were at loggerheads due to lack of clear election procedures. ends