Sunday, November 10, 2024

Churches asked to Participate in election Process- Report

An Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Voter Apathy Report compiled by the Democracy Research Project (DRP) coordinated by University of Botswana political scientists including Dr Zibani MAundeni and Daniel Molaodi recommends that churches should make announcements about registration and voting. IEC has further recommended that members should discuss politics and encourage fellow members to engage in activities relating to politics. Today (Sunday) is the last day for the supplementary registration. The report observed that churches do not actively participate in the voting process. Most churches never discuss national political issues such as voting..

“The failure of church members to actively participate in political deliberations could be linked to the fact that the majority of them never heard their churches make announcements about elections and political issues.” IEC Principal Public Relations Officer Osupile Maroba has recently announced that the supplementary registration has fallen short by 375 000 from its target of 1.1 million eligible voters. In Gaborone Central constituency United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) Reverend Rupert Hambira will be going up against Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) Secretary General and Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) Leader Gomolemo Motswaledi. They will be vying to take the seat from the incumbent Member of Parliament Botswana Congress Party (BCP) President Dumelang Saleshando.

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