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The SADC Parliamentary Forum and the SADC National Parliaments have been challenged to promote electoral integrity in the SADC region as many member states prepare to hold general elections this year and next year. The Parliament Stevens Mokgalapa made the call when he presented a motion at the 43rd Plenary Assembly of the SADC PF that took place in Angola recently.
The SADC Region is gearing up for a busy election season, with nine general elections scheduled between 2018 and 2019. This year, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Kingdom of Eswatini, Madagascar and Zimbabwe will hold general elections. Next year, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa will go to the polls.
Regular elections have become the norm in accordance with national electoral laws and regional, continental and international instruments on elections, democracy and democracy. Mokgalapa said that although the capacity of the African Union and regional economic blocs to observe elections has increased over the years, election observation missions whose mandates and methods are anchored in the international standards have further increased. "Despite major developments in the observation and monitoring of elections in Africa, elections on our continent have remained tainted with irregularities and bad practices that compromise their integrity and therefore their value for democratization." , he said.
Citing the former UN Secretary-General Koffi Anna M. Mokgalapa said that it was necessary to ensure that elections are conducted with integrity, based on democratic principles and political equality and that they be conducted professionally in a transparent and impartial manner.
He explained that electoral integrity in Africa was measured. first time, in the Electoral Integrity in Africa (2015) report of the Electoral Integrity Project
"The results of the PEI survey, which are based on all African countries that held elections between 1 July 2012 and 31 December 2014, found that the degree of threats to electoral integrity is more severe in Africa compared to the rest of the world, although the challenges in Africa are similar to those found globally – where the continent and the SADC region get 58 out of 100, against "
Botswana MK Dithapelo Keorapetse agreed
" As MPs, we have a duty to ensure that the legal framework governing elections In our Member States, in particular, electoral systems are inclusive and serve to guarantee and guarantee the expression of the will of the people … In the absence of credible elections, citizens Have not n resort to peaceful political change. The risk of conflict increases while corruption, intimidation, and fraud are not controlled, "he said.
He adds:" We still have cases where the parties are not in control. opposition and their leaders are mistreated. Some are jailed and charged with frivolous and vexatious accusations, including but not limited to treason. There are still cases where some governments are seeking to introduce electoral voting machines for the sole purpose of undermining the integrity of the vote.
He stated that MPs must use their oversight mandate to make sure that their member states respect the standards, principles and
Another Botswana legislator, Duma Boko, said the motion to Keorapatse was responsible and deserved more interrogation
"This motion, without being explicit, tells us that there are problems with the management of elections in the SADC region. to do something, and in this case we have to remain committed to ensuring that our elections are full of integrity, it does not tell us how we can do that, and the problem we face is that all Countries running in the elections will all say that they are determined to hold free and fair elections. "
He said that we needed to do more.
"It seems to me that we need to go further down the road and concretize the issues so that we can present specific answers or proposals in the context of this motion," he said. the mere holding of a march required police sanction under the pretext of maintaining order and peace and he maintained that in many cases political parties were asking the police to hold peaceful rallies or demonstrations. , are denied the opportunity by the police to argue that they do not have the necessary manpower to accompany them in the march.
"This counteracts and thwarts the ability to convey any message, which is a problem in our region."
He argued that the challenges faced by political parties and the electorate result from what he described as a "desertion of the polling station" of some voters
.people who register to vote – at least in my country 25% – do not show up on polling day Why is it because some of them do not believe in the integrity of elections, and they decide to stay at home. is not apathy, it is not disaffection.It is a protest! They say: "We do not believe in such nonsense, and we will not legitimize them by participating in it.
He added, "We have a desertion or rejection of the polling booth by young people in part because they are not seeing themselves properly reprinted. or because their views are not taken into account, the electoral process is, in many ways, a joke.
According to him, for the region to really have credible elections, legislators must go beyond the respect of formal requirements (as if there is a polling station, if the vote is done in private , or if there was no violence and intimidation)
"We need to go to the substantive issues and ask if these elections are fair." Many of our elections are not but the missions we send to these countries come back and make a verdict of free and fair. "
He said in some countries like India there was a limit on election expenses and rigorous audits after each
"It may be time for us to introduce rigorous controls into our electoral systems … We need to be more specific in our demands and requirements."
South African MP Siphosezwe Masango urged African member states to be open and receptive to constructive criticism.
"I think we should welcome African leaders and academics who are very critical of some of our omissions and weaknesses, which (their constructive criticism) does not make them less pan-African or less patriotic in their respective countries. .. One of us corrects our weaknesses the most. "
He challenged African lawmakers to make sure their governments truly reflect the will of
" Those of us who fought for liberation must accept that once there are serious weaknesses and omissions, the collective will of the people may result in the transfer of power to the opposition because the political parties opposition are not enemies, but strategic adversaries that we must defeat or (who) must overcome us (over) the superiority of ideas that can be put to the electorate.
If we do not We accept if that, we will stay and degenerate into electoral fraud and become illegitimate governments. Botswana MP Polson Majaga also weighed in the debate and urged SADC member states to adopt gender equality in all political parties
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