Complications delay Botswana election results - Elections '99 - Sustainable Democracy

GABORONE, 17 October 1999
Although Botswana's voting yesterday for its seventh
national and regional election went peacefully and reasonably smoothly, complications in the vote counting have delayed results probably until Monday.

By late-afternoon Sunday, the new Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had received final results from only one constituency, Baralong in the rural
south of this sprawling but lightly populated country. The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) held the constituency easily with 5,021 votes.
Trailing were the Botswana National Front (BNF) with 2,355 and the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) a distant third with only 356 votes.

The IEC, running its first election since it was formed after the 1994 election from a former elections secretariat run out of the Office oif the President, has serious logistical problems.

Each of the 40 constitutencies must gather all ballot boxes from each polling station at a central point and then first count regional ballots before beginning the parliamentary votes. In widely spread rural constituencies this meant hours before counting could be started because all ballot boxes must have arrived before any can be opened.

A second problem facing the IEC returning officers is a new ballot system introduced for this election. Previously people voted simply by placing a coloured disc in a ballot box, each colour denoting a separate party. This election a fully printed paper ballot was used, listing seven parties, symbols and names. Voters were required to mark their choice with an X. Many long-time voters found this difficult which slowed voting yesterday so that some polling stations had to
remain open past the official 7 p.m. closing.

This new system also contributed to today's delays, unofficial reports because there are an unusually large number of spoiled, blank or uncertain ballots. "One constitutency, Gaborone North, has counted eight times and is still not finished," one official at the Gaborone headquarters said.

Under IEC rules the ballots and the registration figures from each polling station must be reconciled before counting begins. If the count and the registration does not tally a new count must be conducted. Additionally,
each of the five parties can demand a recount (The ballots were printed with seven parties but two dropped out, leaving only five parties -- BDP, BNF, BCP, Botswana Alliance Movement (BAM) and MELS (Marx, Engel, Lenin and Stalin) -- which produced candidates.

IEC officials are leary of speaking to the press and their headquarters staff are hunkered down awaiting the phone or fax message from the counting centres. One commissioner said late afternoon Sunday that "by this time last election, we had 80 percent results."

IEC has been forced to deal with a number of problems including the disenfranchisement of 67.000 voters, forcing President Festus Mogae to declare a State of Emergency in September to recall the dissolved Parliament to reinstate the voters.

Opposition politicians have also accused the IEC of doing poor voter education on the new system and there are several court cases pending against it because of alleged cheating in the voter registration process and stopping the registration rpocess too early. About 460,000 of Botswana's 900,000 eligible voters registered.

Both the president and attorney-general have distanced themselves from the IEC problems because it is legally independent. Media have been complaining all day that no system at headquarters to inform the public of electoral progress except by listening to state-owned Radio Botswana which has correspondents around the country.

Of the 406 regional council seats, a large majority had been won by BDP, followed distantly by BNF, although detailed figures have not yet been released.

If the results continue the regional and one constituency trend, the BDP will have its expected victory and the BNF could form the opposition. BNF,
the traditionals, opposition party won 13 seats in 1994 but was then split in 1998, losing 11 of its seats to the breakaway BCP. The poor showing this far of the BCP indicates voters are unhappy with the opposition split.

Most polling stations have also indicated that the so-called youth vote has not materialized. Botswana dropped the age limit to 18 from 21 for this election.

Further results are expected late Sunday or even Monday. (SARDC)