Local observer group CDWS calls for electoral reform: |15 September 2016

Calls for elections to be held in one day

Following its observation of the legislative elections which was held last weekend, local election observer group Citizens Democracy Watch Seychelles (CDWS) has through several recommendations asked the Electoral Commission (EC) to identify areas for more electoral reforms.

Despite recognising the important logistics which the EC has to put into place especially to organise voting on the outlying islands, CDWS has asked to consider reducing the voting period to one day instead of three as it is presently the case. The local observer mission has reminded that it made the same recommendation following the presidential polls of December 2015.

Presenting the election observation preliminary report at the CEPS conference room at the Orion Mall yesterday morning, the head of the 18-member mission Eline Moses said that the observation of the pre-election phase, the election process and post activities have shown that the election was conducted in a peaceful, orderly and transparent atmosphere.

She added though that citizens should be more respectful of each other.

“Credible elections are needed for political stability and economic growth,” she remarked, as she described the election as “an important milestone in the country’s political history […], with all Seychellois coming out as winners”.

Present at the presentation were British high commissioner Caron Röhsler, members of the ARID (Association for Rights Information and Democracy) observer group, electoral commission member Beatty Hoareau, representatives of the civil society and LDS (Linyon Demokratik Seselwa) leader Roger Mancienne whose party has won a 19 to 14-seat majority over Parti Lepep (PL) in the National Assembly as a result of the election.

One of CDWS’ other main recommendations calls for a modernisation of the electoral process, through an electronic system. While it has been suggested that a fully fledged electronic voting system is eventually possible, CDWS has called on the EC to immediately update its website and render the electronic voter check service operational at all times.

In regards to the voters’ register, the observer mission has underlined the urgent need for the office of the EC to undertake a voters’ census in order to rid the register of people who have passed away or are living abroad. In this way, it says,  we can have a clean and concise register which will ensure that people vote in the electoral area where they actually reside.

As it calls for every person who has turned 18 on Election Day to be included on the list and be given the right to vote, CDWS is also requesting the publication of names of people who have asked to change constituency, so that other persons can object to the request if necessary.

Noting that voters’ education has improved with more information provided, CDWS has however added that this is still necessary for elders living in old people’s homes and detainees at the Montagne Posée prison.

It has at the same time however insisted that it is now time to pass on to more civic education. For example it has remarked, people should know the role of the MNA (Member of the National Assembly) which one observer said “is not reduced to building roads and bridges”.

The observer group says that the media has an important role to play in civic education, with more involvement of the Media Commission. It has at the same time called for a stricter code of conduct for the media. This is because although it has observed more balanced reporting, political newspapers were still being published and sold during the cooling off period and there has also been unequal attribution of air time and use of hate speeches, insults and character defamation.

Among other recommendations CDWS has called for more time for registration of political parties prior to elections, for the setting up of an Electoral Tribunal to settle disputes, for election results to be announced at the polling station in order to increase transparency, for the EC to consider setting up more than one polling station in districts with large populations and to put into place a proper mechanism enabling prisoners to register and cast their vote.

The observer group has also asked political parties to show more compassion to incapacitated people and to not drag them to the polls.

Among others, CDWS says it also made the following observations during last weekend election: Alphabetical streaming was smooth in certain districts but not appropriately managed in others, some disabled and elders were not given priority to vote while able persons voted in presence of witnesses, some polling stations and booths were not appropriately located, there was not sufficient lighting outside some stations, there was inconsistency in voting process between stations while some citizens could not cast their vote on Silhouette and at the Montagne Posée prison.

During the report presentation, concerns were also raised regarding the facilitation of identification of Muslim women and the fact that both main parties made use of insulting songs during the campaign.