GAME OF NUMBERS
Hopeful political parties push electorates to register for elections Some call for voting to be made compulsory
With the one-month voter registration beginning this Wednesday, political parties are confident that their efforts to mobilise the electorate will bear fruit.
Speaking to The Midweek Sun, Deputy Secretary General of the Botswana Peoples Party (BPP), Tiroyaone Ntsima said his party has, together with its coalition partners - Alliance for Progressives (AP), Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) and Botswana National Front (BNF) - have been holding political rallies and doing house-to-house campaigns, as well as registering new members and encouraging them to register for the elections.
“We are expecting a good response from the people including those who have not yet made up their minds about which party they intend to join,” Ntsima said.
Likewise, the Publicity Secretary of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), Dr Mpho Pheko is confident that BCP members will respond well and register as early as possible.
“The party has been engaging local structures in house-to-house campaigns. We are confident of a good response from the people,” a confident Dr Pheko said.
The president of the Botswana Labour Party (BLP), Dr Prince Dibeela is similarly confident that his party’s efforts will help get as many people as possible, registering to vote in 2024.
“From tomorrow to the end of the 30-day registration period, we will have foot-soldiers, mainly council candidates on the ground on a daily basis checking whether the people have registered or not. They will also be encouraging those who have not registered to do so,”
Efforts to speak to the BNF Secretary General, Ketlhalefile Motshegwa did not bear fruit as he was unavailable at press time.
Likewise, both Kavis Kario and Banks Kentse, the BDP Secretary General and Publicity Secretary respectively, were not available at press-time as their phones rung unanswered.
Meanwhile, voter registration and voting have been described both as a right of citizenry and a civic responsibility. Elections are not only an act of patriotism but allow the voters to have a voice in the running of the country as the people will elect the candidate or party whose values resonate with their own.
So important is voting that in over 40 countries world-wide, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cyprus, Ecuador, Fiji, voting is compulsory and those who don’t vote are sanctioned for voter apathy.
Concerned about voter apathy, some political parties suggest that voting should become compulsory in Botswana to ensure that a maximum number of people participate in the polls.
Advocates of compulsory voting argue that it will not only inculcate
a sense of responsibility and patriotism in the citizens but will make the job of political parties easier as the party activists would not have to incur any expenses ‘persuading’ the voter to go to the registration centres to register.
The “persuasion” usually entails not only providing transport to the nearest voting booth which may be a distance away, but also buying food, drinks or both are usually an obvious part of the package to get the voter to the polls.
However, opponents of compulsory voting argue that the practice infringes on the concerned person’s freedom of association.
Secondly, nobody should be proud of an impressive turnout if the participants in the election were compelled to go and vote. Mandatory voting may backfire if those who do not consider voting as a high priority, deliberately either turn-up spoilt ballots or vote in any other manner that may soil the credibility of the elections.
In an academic paper, Political Analyst, Adam Mfundisi makes the observation that part of the reason why voter apathy is high in Botswana is that voters may not be sufficiently aware of the centrality of elections to themselves as citizens.
“In addition, political parties field uninspiring candidates, who fail ultimately to stimulate voters’ interest or excitement,” the academic says. He also blames the party activists for churning out campaign messages that are not issue-based hence irrelevant.