Tips for fair elections

Feb 20, 2001

If the electoral commission is serious in supervising fair and free elections, the way forward is:

By W.G. Wanendeya If the electoral commission is serious in supervising fair and free elections, the way forward is: l All voters must be searched at polling stations to ensure that they are not carrying extra ballot papers printed locally on the special paper from Portals (Bathford) Ltd. in UK. l The ballot paper numbers should correspond to the voter's card number. The alternative is for all candidates' representatives to check serial numbers of the ballot paper to be cast for the polling station right before voting starts. l LC officials must be told that it is illegal to write down a voter's card number, and what for? Anybody found to be writing a voter's card number should be reported to a local special committee set up to scrutinise malpractices and to Police for prosecution. The EC should announce this in the news media. l When voting is over, papers must be checked by counting ballot paper numbers and announced to voters at the polling station on the voting day or checked against a voter's card number. l The number shall be recorded by each candidate's representative at the polling station on a list given to them at the start of the polling day. l In case of disagreement, the announced numbers shall be cross-checked with the ballot paper numbers issued for the polling station. Besides, the record shall be full proof to be checked by complainant, in the presence of all the candidate's representatives at a later date, should there be disputes. l All ballot paper copy duplicate numbers lists be given to the candidate's representative by the polling station officials, be signed for if satisfactory, and returned as a true record of the results while reserving a copy for himself/herself. l The voting results tallied and confirmed shall be announced there and then publicly. And that would be it. l What has given thoughts to the above is that the LC officials have again started their dirty game just like in 1996. If the Electoral Commission wants a research into the issue and get culprits interrogated thus leading to prosecution, names shall be revealed with details. Ends

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});