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Botswana: Registration Closes But You Can Still Register
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
EDITORIAL
23 October 2007
Posted to the web 23 October 2007
The general elections registration exercise that started three weeks ago has ended. Our hope is that a significant number of voters have registered.
We cannot over-emphasise the importance of an election in the life of a democracy. This is the time when the public is called upon to make decisions to elect a government of their choice. Our hope is that you all went out to exercise this all important responsibility.
Given the unimpressive numbers of voters who have been coming forward to register, it is possible that even the yesterday's last push to woo prospective voters to register was not enough.The low turn-out is not made any better by the fact that political parties have not had their primary elections which determines who the party representatives in the coming elections would be.
Gradually, the component of the candidate is slowly becoming a big factor in elections.
Unlike in the past, people are not just satisfied voting the party, they also want to know the candidate. In a representative democracy, this is understandable and could be a healthy addition that could help revitalize competition at elections. We hope the parties soon get busy and start electing their local and parliamentary candidates. Those that have missed out on the general registration should not lose heart. While nobody has any guarantee that there would be a supplementary election,we can encourage the public to take advantage of the on-going continous registration at the specified offices.
We, however, wish to caution the voting public and the parties themselves to be fair and truthful when they register. From past experience, it has been reported that some representatives often with the knowledge of their parties would engage in methods of chicanery and vote rigging during election registration. It is around registration that voters are trafficked by unscrupulous party officials who want to win at all costs with no regard to fair play and honesty in an election.
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This type of behaviour is wrong and robs voters of their fair choice. Parties and individuals who practice this type of thuggery should be discouraged but most importantly, individuals that allow themselves to be used in this manner are as guilty as those that manipulate them to carry out these acts. The Independent Electoral Commission and the Electoral Act says people are only entitled to register and vote where they stay anything other than any registration that purports otherwise is wrong and it is illegal. Since most of the parties are motivated by the desire to win and win at all cost it is important to warn members of the public to be vigilant and not allow themselves to be used by politicians who would want to traffic them. One of the founding principles of this nation is honesty and we appeal to all voters to be the embodiment of this virtue.It is however pleasing that up to this stage there has not been any reports of any cheating of voter trafficking.
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| Copyright © 2007 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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