UDC demands IEC to foster changes
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Monday August 19, 2024 06:00
In the letter from Ketlhalefile Motshegwa of the UDC, addressed to the IEC Secretary on August 8, 2024, and titled ‘Request for Information for Free, Fair and Transparent Elections’, the UDC has listed 17 demands for the IEC to address. The party is requesting comprehensive information about the entire election cycle, including details such as the total number of registration books, registration card books, and ballot paper books printed by the commission, along with their serial numbers. The coalition also wants information on the number of pages in each registration and ballot paper book, as well as the name of the company that printed them and the associated costs. Additionally, the UDC wants to know if a tender was issued for these printing services. If so, they are requesting full details of the tender process and information on where it was advertised.
The coalition has also demanded to be given the name of the current election management system, its manufacturer and from which company it was procured from and when. Furthermore, the UDC is demanding to know if the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) has access to this system, where the system is housed or located. In addition, the UDC has called for improved security of the Diaspora votes, demanding that they be kept in tamper-proof envelopes or mini-ballot boxes. “Is there any third party with access to the system, if yes who are they and why? How will the Diaspora votes be transported? Can you improve the security of those votes by using tamper-proof envelopes or mini-ballot boxes? We will for the first time seal these envelopes or boxes as the law permits,” reads the letter in part.
The UDC also wants the envelopes or mini-ballot boxes to be transported by a reputable international courier company with a tracking number, which will be shared with political parties. 'These together with ballot boxes for early voters should not be opened without the presence of political parties as it happened in the past,' the UDC letter further reads. The UDC has also called on the IEC to stop hiding the Government Gazette with the names of people deployed to run elections. It has also demanded to be furnished with the list of all polling stations where boxes will be transported by helicopters to the counting centres. It has also questioned why the IEC officers refuse to stamp and sign rolls brought to the commission's offices. The opposition coalition has also demanded to know the total number of ballot boxes and their serial numbers. 'We urge you to increase polling booths in polling stations with sizeable voters to improve efficiency.
However, gazette these booths so that there is transparency and better preparation unlike what happened in the last polls,' Motshegwa wrote. He highlighted that this information is important and necessary for the assurance of free, fair, and transparent elections in October 2024. Motshegwa said the IEC is obligated to uphold SADC standards and protocols on electoral processes and other principles of best-practice electoral systems. For his part, the IEC spokesperson, Osupile Maroba, said he was constrained to make comments because he was not aware of the letter. 'I am not aware of such a letter because it has not reached my office. I can't say if it is there or not because if it was addressed to the IEC secretary, it means it is with the executive management,' he said.