27 Jun 2019

Primary school heads in Francistown have been applauded for ensuring a smooth voter registration process.

Speaking during an event to update on preparedness for the general elections in Francistown on June 24, Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)  principal elections officer, Mr Nyanga Nyanga, said with the help of school heads, the registration process was a success.

He said IEC had effectively delivered elections from 1997 to date, with participation of public service leadership.

Mr Nyanga said the purpose of the update was to touch base and share experiences on how IEC could effectively deliver credible elections.

He said there was a reduction in the number of people who registered in Francistown, with 34 222 registered for the 2019 polls as compared to 35 080 in 2014.

He, however, said there was a rise in the number of youth who were involved in elections, with 21, 29 and 40 per cent of youth participating in 2004, 2009 and 2014 respectively.

“IEC has employed youth ambassadors across the country that the youth look up to as role models. These people have been given the role to partake in voter education and lure more youth to participate in elections,” he said.

Addressing the recruitment process for the poll employees, Mr Nyanga re-assured the school heads that there would be pre-voting to allow election facilitators to vote.

He further said it was the school leaders’ role to help in nominating confident and assertive people to be returning officers, assistant returning officers, tallying officers, presiding officers and polling officers.

He also encouraged school officials to appreciate electoral laws to be able to comprehend election processes and teach others and their pupils.

Mr Nyanga said the IEC had succeeded in reducing the number of election petitions, established conflict resolution structures, successfully as well as introducing election related topics in the school curriculum and trained officers on sign language.

He added, however, that owing to the country’s vastness, the commission still faced shortage in some aspects.

He also said illegal registration and the abuse of social media to proliferate fake news was a problem and encouraged the public to access correct data from the official IEC website.

Tagala Primary School head, Mr Law Maphane thanked IEC for involving school leaders in their fora, adding that meeting with them was essential.

He further applauded the school leaders for showing interest in working with IEC, adding that they should be as impartial as possible when facilitating during elections and that patriotism was the way to go. ENDS