By ‘Majirata Latela
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is worried that things may not go according to plan with the 2022 general assembly elections around the corner.
The National Assembly polls are set for September 2022.
Political analysts argue that if the IEC will not hold credible elections, the commission will be blamed because the issues complained about are engineered by the election commission.
The IEC’s public relations officer, Tuoe Hantši, says the election administering body has been struggling to complete or start projects which are in line with the preparations for the 2022 general elections.
He said those projects are meant to lead the country into preparing for the general elections. He said some of those projects require a lot of time for implementation as part of preparations for the up-coming poll.
According to him, the IEC officials had anticipated that some of those projects would have started being implemented. But a lacking funding is crippling the commission from continuing with relevant preparations.
“In the 2021/2022 financial year, IEC was allocated M136 million but the commission has only received less than 20 percent of the allocated budget,
“We have been planning projects and requested funding only to get promises which were never fulfilled in the end. We had in some instances had to use money according to priorities and that meant some of the projects planned had to be compromised.
“For as much as elections can be prepared for, in a space of 10 months, some of the tasks that IEC needs to do cannot fit in that space of time thus the reason for wanting to start the projects earlier,” Hantši suggested.
Those projects, he added, include demarcation of constituencies and electoral divisions which IEC started in 2020. Such activities have been stifled as the commission is plunged into remarkable shortage of funding. Some of them are incomplete.
He cited availability of a single car for each district electoral office excluding Maseru.
He said the plan was to concurrently hold both the local and general elections and is optimistic that the plan will be see the light of the day.
Hantši observed that the laws guiding the holding of elections should be be in place to allow for smooth holding of voting.
He remarked that voter education should have commenced in order to equip voters with knowledge on the two polls. Such, he added, would be strengthened by holding workshops, public gatherings and obtaining space on various forms of media.
Hantši lamented that in some constituencies by-elections failed to be held, citing a shortage of financial resources as a hiccup.
The by-elections were supposed to Have been held in five constituencies following the death of their members of parliament. Those constituencies have 44 electoral divisions. Together.
Political analyst, Professor Kopano Makoa says the commission is forced by the Constitution to hold elections every five years.
He said IEC may complain of lack of funds but it is obliged in law to enable free, fair and credible poll, noting that preparations were of paramount importance.
“Issues that they are raising are administrative issues which they have to work on and stop complaining that they do not have money. There are so many tactics that IEC could use to twist the arm of government into giving them money. For instance, they can use the media to make noise about the finances,
“Issues such as harmonisation of laws are big issues that need attention to avert any negative effects on polls. If it happens that in the 10 months of preparing the election, harmonisation is not complete; IEC can decide to separate the elections,
“There is no serious issue in all the things that they are complaining of and it is even very senseless for them to complain of those issues now. They still have time to facilitate preparations for up-coming elections.
He said constituency demarcation might be undertaken in only selected areas especially those in the more populated areas.
He said the IEC has offices in all the 10 districts of Lesotho which should be used to clean and update the voter’s roll. He believed that it is time to clean up the voters’ roll.
“Failure to provide an updated voters roll during elections may cause chaos. An undated voter’s roll can bring a lot of complaints and suspicions which political leaders can hold onto if they get defeated during elections,
“We are dealing with a mantle here but that doesn’t say IEC should be complaining. All that they are complaining about should be discussed with the minister responsible so as plans run according the commission intentions,” he said.
On the one hand, another political analyst, Professor Motlamelle Kapa shared the same sentiments with Makoa indicating that IEC should stop complaining about what he termed “minor issues which are not helping anyone at the moment.”
He warned that concerning issues raised by the IEC would not haunt it in the future, saying such might be tools used by the politicians when things do not go their way.
Minister of law and constitutional affairs, Lekhetho Rakuoane also agreed with the IEC that it is facing a lot of challenges to prepare for the 2022 general elections.
“To mention a few challenges, voter’s roll has been a problem for many years now and observers have been mentioning that there should be a new and clean voter’s roll which matches with Lesotho’s biometric system.
“We had planned to create a new voter’s roll but we failed due to inadequate funds. The new voter’s roll which is linked to the biometric needs close to M500million which the government is unable to finance now.
“For other projects that IEC had planned we have been making requests for funding. Only promises are made but are not being brought into fruition. With delays to pump up funding for election related activities the commission faces a mammoth task to smoothly operate,” Rakuoane thought.
He suggested the ministry hoped that by now preparations would have been at an advanced stage, noting that the commission is struggling to carry out is activities.
He suggested that his ministry encouraged that the commission be allocated at least a quarter of the budget required. Such, he imagined, will facilitate cleaning of the voters’ roll. The new roll, he believed required sufficient time for a clean-up.
After the 2012 snap elections, the Commonwealth Observer Mission recommended that IEC should keep the electoral register under a continuing review.
The observers showed that the voter register is a fundamental element of the electoral process, the integrity and management of which could impact on the outcome of an election.
African Union election observation mission to the 2017 National Assembly elections also said the registration of voters in Lesotho is mandatory and is conducted by the IEC on a continuous basis in accordance with the law.
The legislation provides for continuous registration to be suspended on the 8th day after the commencement of the election period (after proclamation).
