The challenge of primary elections

In two of my earlier pieces this year I have mentioned how the primary elections for the main political parties will present a major huddle to these parties prior to the 2014 general elections. I have also intimated that the primary elections will as they often do bring forth all sorts of reactions from party members, including dissent, challenges, disappointment and even legal litany. This year’s primary elections are proving to be a challenge for the main political parties for a variety of reasons and we have had postponements of holding the primaries by the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), Botswana National Front (BNF) and Botswana Congress Party (BCP). But what are the problems bedevilling political parties around primary elections?
There are a number of issues that have so far been reported to be happening around the country and I will only pick on a few to explore their likely impact and meaning to the coming 2014 elections. First were reports of an opposition council candidate and his/her relatives, who were reported to be card carrying members of the opposition, having their names appear in the BDP’s voter roll in the Tswapong area. These were not just appearing but also had party membership numbers, suggesting that they have either registered or someone has fraudulently registered them as BDP members without their knowledge. I don’t wish to make a judgement as to what might have happened but if this is a possible scenario across the country, how many people are in the same position, knowingly or unknowingly and what does this mean for the fairness of elections at both party and national level. It means that some people may actually be “card carrying” of political parties they have never joined. If this is done by party functionaries with the intention to deliberately cheat, how do political parties act to curb these and what remedies are there for those whose names are secretly registered for parties they do not belong to?
Secondly, we have also heard of problems of voter trafficking by party members to aid certain candidates in the primary elections. This is somewhat an interesting development because we are used to this problem at national registration process but now it is also a feature of primary elections. We have heard of reports of these developments in areas like Tonota where it is alleged that party members are trafficked from a constituency whose “main” candidate is viewed to be as good as been guaranteed a win to a constituency where a preferred candidate could be aided to defeat the incumbent . There are also reports of voter trafficking in the Lobatse constituency and other areas and all these are developments that are associated first with the primary elections. If this could be a common feature at party levels should we not worry that it could as well be a practice at the national registration? Of course we should because already the Independent Electoral Commission has already had to intervene in the Selibe Phikwe area, in the recent national registration process. It was reported that voters were ferried from villages of Mmadinare, Robelela, Damochuchena & others to beef up the numbers in Selibe Phikwe because those other villages are considered to be in relatively safe areas for the concerned party. This then is a problem that can easily be perfected from party primary elections to national registration process.
Thirdly, we hear of conflicts or trouble brewing in a number of constituencies where party colleagues are accusing each other of violating primary elections regulations. Reports suggest that the BDP has had to send its Central Committee members to try to mediate between party candidates in the Serowe North West constituency. Relatedly, there are reports of tensions of sorts in many areas among party functionaries including Kgatleng West, Tswapong South and a few others. This is a pointer that primary elections are a potential source of conflict and tensions within political parties and the party that best manages these is well placed to enter 2014 with high chances to perform well in the general elections than those parties that fails to amicably resolve or at the very least mitigate against these tensions. When these are not well managed there are high chances of defections, litigations and independent candidates.
Fourthly, the Francistown West bye election situation is also a case in point to assess the likely impacts of the tensions arising from primary elections. As I write this piece, pending a favourable judgement from the judicial system, the BDP faces a possibility of failing to defend the seat that it won in the last elections. This is so because one of their colleagues has successfully challenged the outcome of the primary elections for that constituency and the court has ordered that the winner be not registered pending the central committee’s sitting to attend to his concerns and points of his challenging the results. If the BDP fails to win the legal battle, it runs the risk of failing to field a candidate in that constituency for the first time ever and simply giving the constituency to the opposition on a silver plate. Whilst this would be good news to the opposition camp, it will certainly be an affront on the democratic process of elections in the country.
Lastly, we also hear of some candidates disqualified from contesting because they have violated primary elections rules and regulations for their parties. This is a purely procedural eventuality but that people still opt to go against the rules in seeking candidature for elections speaks volumes about the parties’ educational process to ensure that party members, especially those who seek political office at either local or national level, are well conversant with the laws not only at party level but the national electoral laws and processes. Overall we are seeing these developments because our democracy has challenges to be addressed by both the political parties and electoral bodies to create an environment where the rules for aspiring candidates are mirrored in very ethical and politically correct precincts that alleys possible corruption and degrading of the electoral processes at both party and national levels. It would appear more is likely to unfold & we await the completion of the primary elections for all parties for then the picture will become even clearer.