-J. .• p< -- u. >T <0 A-, X /"/ <u vReport on the General Elections *v - , . •» •" • - -.<• • ••—•\ S 1 • 1969 .r ' C* p* 7. Followingtjie preparation of estimates of polling staff needed the n*«* Lv • tu elections office was to draw UD a comnl#»t#» ' he next steP in the . - future elections): 3^*en these lists had been prepar . acting 11 eW.«tfo" offici^XTr: pard^aT^ ^ radvf'P^ remuneradon for * and these charges were debited to th Jrl^iri • government subsistence &nd mileage rates employed in government. Non-tov^m^T ffi"16" V°te .accordinS to wh^e the officer was Officers were paid R6.00 per day and polling'^SreR4 00 thc,clect^)nf ^^vote. Presiding Pffi^ were pifd R4.00 per day for felpiitfio Lnt the votfL^T Y' 9. Vanous detailed guides were prepared in the elections office. These were - . ^Ulde to> Returning Officers in the-parliamentary elections. (b) Guide to Returning Officers in the local government elections: (c) Guide to Parliamentary Candidates. (&) Guide to Local Government Candidates. A cL of"dh t0r,PrSld'ng,0ffiCerS in ,he Par"amema^ and ^ Government Elections. A copy of each of these guides is on file in tjie election office — Presidential fa « °f "« SstSerS1969 and the • 7 of ,he act terms • (i) 5>ir Seretse Khama — Botswana Democratic Party. (11) Ex-Chief Bathoen Gaseitsiwe — Botswana National Front. * (ui) P G- Matante — Botswana Peoples Party to secure — on'the 29th Wri^ofE'ecuon under the Public Seal ofBotswana Election InstXnts" Th«e Gw™"« and Lands issued mentary and local govemmem etrril ^ ^ "turning officers in the parlia- the constituency and polling district headquarter are shown in D^E ^ mentry rc~n^the1LcTiYed a"d ^ !ists.°f ca"did*es nominated in the parlia- TESTES In accordance with regulationwa 11s issueof thed a DP (induc candidatt eof ^eCtion8V * * - -»™ 16. As v«il be observed from appendices F and werCffoue registerer partieds contestety emd the electionfs TP? * *••»» ° — ' . ' .. Symbol' 2 - -Botswana Democratic Party Domkrag R . Botswana Independence Party Black cow on green background Green Botswana N^onal From Gold key on bLk background , Hacl Botswana People s Party • - Black star oh gold background Gold There were three independent candidates in the local government elections who selected symbols and voti^ colours from a list prepared in the elections office who selected 17. Polling took place on the 18th October, 1969. Polling hours werefrom 7 00 a m to 6 00 N h andK s uth lfJr^,m«^(ToT^.' M- rI rv ofthf r>?c Sevent° h Day Adventist Church who could only vote after sunset on polling day which was a Saturday and therefore their sabbath day ' 18. In the parliamentary Elections the Botswana Democratic Party secured 24 seats ihe * Botswana National Front 3 seats, the Botswana Peoples Party 3 seats and the Botswanalnde CUeflmtic^ t f?h' 21st °Ct0bCf satirfactory- evidence was prodJced to the he Nati nal Assemb| SXTL f„t1 ' ° y * -mter being not less than KhZ. ^ nUmb\r °f,ckcted members had declared their support for Sir Seretse - Khama as acandidate in the election for President and the Chief Justice therefore declared Ae o«h»^Sa *h H epCCtrd 35 Pre„sidfnt ^Republic of Botswana. The President took 2/nd October l969 Par'lament Bu,ldln« Gaboronc at 9.00 o'clock a.m. on Wednesday 19. The results and polling percentages are given in appendix H (parliamentary elections! and appendix I (local government elections). - . nentary elections) 20. The cost of the elections.is shown in appendix J. Recommendation • ' ' CarC takC VC r the re stration of v A u ° L ^ 'oters the voters rolls were unsatisfactory ^ common complaint was that the numbers on Voters registration cards did not corresS with the number on the voters roll. This of course was caused by carelesshess on the oart of registration officers who put different numbers on the voters registration record cards and u* sitUation COyld be prevented from arising in future if the voters registration card was a carbon copy of the relevant part of the voters registration record card However, I think the best solution would be if the voters registration record cards and the Wherebwh^n11 CafdS WCre numb,er.ed before being issued and the present system retained Whereby the voters registration card is torn off the bottom of the voters registration record dbrtmlnf H°n llK S*°ngly Voters record cards are made accountable Officers ^ int° 65 °f fifty °r a hundred before bei"g issued to registration C 22. The various methods employed in allocating numbers to voters who registered on fiSP!nnnintary I **. Confusing. Thus at some stations the prefix SI was u>ed for the first supplementary period, S2 for the second and so o£ A? other stations the prefixes SA, SB r / -j etc. were used. If registration car* were numbered before issue there would be no need to 1 2 , ^? \ Whi°h usually cpnfuse registration .officers. The numbers could simply follow on in j^ie normal sequence. - thi recommendation were adopted a decision would have to be made with regard to -umbering. At present the voters roll at each polling station begins at number one but there iyfio l™Zv y- 0n,X 0ne the COUmry shoiil« not * and different^^ments ^the 1 ^ senes Heated to different polling stations. However, if only for typing convenience I would recommend that voters rolls for ^polling station begin at numbed 24. I flunk it is desirable that.a voter's napie be typed infullon the voters rolls and nnf as at Present onl^ % surname and intials indicated. This would mean that more typine time ZU ^ vC rt0 PreF>are thr°terS ro11 bUt 1 feel that il wou,d ** worth it as it wlLl make7 the recognitior n of voterseasier. In addition I understand that the rigid division into surname and e n ir W thaT~ ^rffl j estern society is^ot^niversally understood in Botswana society so appl'nTr^s^on * ^ a"d which ™e of a peln 25 Another unsatisfactory feature of the voters rolls was the way in which numbers fre orfrom ^rl0WT0H ^ ^the nUmbers retimes jumped from 10 to 12 uLIuv K ^ ^ u C Wefe ^ons for this. In the case of the smaller gaps mistakes had usually been made by registration officers but in the case of the larger gaps tWw^ caus^d hv , 21 CANCELLED; or- 600 — 1000 NO REGISTRATIONS UNDER THESE NUMBERS. of j^ections^fi^tti/brtiriiT^0^!^ v^°f the ^Iect®ra^ ^ct> 1968 and of the Local Councils (Conduct ot Elections) Regulations which m my view should be amended. These are — * <a) f^°n„32 (1> °f the Electoral Act, 1968 and the corresponding regulation in the Local Councils (Conduct of Elections) Regulations, 1966 — I feel that the Dro- spective candidate should be registered on an election roll as well as the proposer candidate "o 3°*" n0™nati°n PaPer sh°«'d be amended to require the candidate to state the number under which he is registered on the election roll (b) f-fr 52„a"d 70 W of.">e Electoral Act and the corresponding regulation in the local government election regulations - I think the Vequirement that ballot prevent ^foree^v rfStam^ ^ mark Sh°U'd be abolishcd- " does little to prevent forgery of envelopes since anyone who acquired a forged envelope would probably find ,t just as easy to acquire or manufacture a stamp. It see™ Zng PCrS°n Can I^I i of h» ™te simply because a careless polling office? forgets to stamp a ballot envelope. (C) 60$11—thC EleCt°yaI Act Pr°vides for a polling officer or police officer on duty at a polling station other than the polling station where he is registered as a vo er, to be.entitled to vote at his duty polling station provided both polling stations constituency. The equivalent provision in the Local Councils of EIecti°ns) Regulations 1966 is to be found in regulation 33 (5) but is °rC rettnC?Ve ^.b°th Polling stations have to be in the same polling restrictions did not cause undue difficulties in the 1969 electiom because the majority of presiding officers were appointed from expatriate govern- •~^Sr. r J*f ; f' r ' ^' i ment officers who were not qualified^ register as voters.However, as the public b€Comes more r •« fT*** localised this will cause a problem as officer might be - r reluctant to accept appointment as presiding or polling officers if this would entail their losing their vote. I recommend that the legislation be amended so as to make provision for polling and police officers to be allowed to vote at the polling station" 21 7 , wlfere they are registered before they proceed on'election duties provided such station 45 at or near their government duty station. * *- ^ (d) Section 91(a) of. the Electoral Act,f 1968 aftd the corresponding regulation in the - . " local government regulations — treating as defined excludes the provision of food ' or drink. I think the definition shouldlnclud?ihem. (e) Section 92<in the Electoral Ad, 1.968 and the corresponding provision,in the local government regulation —it is for consideration whether the definition of undue influence should not-be widqrttg so as to -make it an offence for anyone holding a public office or occupying a post of Uaditionkf authority"(e.g. headman, subordinate tribal authority or tribal authority) to urge people to vote for any particular candi- date. 27. • I consider thaVth^Presidential Elections (Supplementary Provisions) Act, 1969 should be amended so as to make i^ecessary for a candidate for election to the office of President to be registered on an election roll and to require him to declare4he number Under which tit is registered on his nomination paper.