Botswana’s election commission is warning opposition parties against what it calls “reckless” claims of poll rigging ahead of the October 30 general election, even as some opposition leaders insist that cheating is happening.
The Independent Electoral Commission’s chief public relations officer, Osupile Maroba, said allegations that dead people’s names have been placed on the roll of registered voters are false, disrespectful and absurd.
Even so, Moeti Mohwasa, a spokesperson for the opposition coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change, insisted his party knows about plans to rig elections and even accused the electoral commission of enlisting the services of Zimbabwean authorities to do so.
“The IEC is working in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to assist it in the game that they master most — that is, cheating in the elections,” Mohwasa said. “The Central Intelligence Organization of Zimbabwe is working with the Directorate of Intelligence and Security in Botswana to achieve the same.”
Mohwasa said the Umbrella for Democratic Change will petition the Zimbabwean Embassy in Gaborone next week over its election concerns.
The Botswana Congress Party, which is not part of the opposition alliance, is equally concerned the poll will be marred by irregularities.
BCP spokesperson Mpho Pheko said the party worries in particular about the counting of votes away from polling stations.
“The BCP has always held the position that elections in Botswana are free but not fair,” Pheko said, recounting that BCP President Dumelang Saleshando proposed a motion in parliament that the law should be reviewed to allow for ballots to be counted where they were cast.
“But the majority refused, insisting on the transportation of ballot boxes,” Pheko said.
Kgalalelo Kentse of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party said that the opposition parties’ claims are a sign of desperation and that they made the same assertions during the 2019 election but could not prove them in court.
Burundi-based Raphael Bindariye, program manager of the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, previously worked as an electoral officer in United Nations missions in Africa. He said opposition concerns over election rigging in Africa emanate from how electoral bodies are managed.
“It is how impartial, how independent, how natural the electoral management bodies are in Africa,” Bindariye said. “How are they set up, who is setting them up, where do they get results from? It is generally from the government. It is generally from the ruling parties that have more means and is the one managing the national resources in the country.”
More than 2,000 Botswanan citizens living abroad, along with local election officials and police, will cast votes this Saturday. The rest of the more than 1 million local voters will get their turn on October 30.
