‘Anse Boileau by-election was free, fair and transparent,’ says ARID |06 March 2018

The Association for Rights Information and Democracy (ARID) has said that the February 24-25 by-election held at Anse Boileau was free, fair and transparent.

The by-election was prompted by the resignation of Honourable Patrick Pillay, the member of the National Assembly (MNA) for the electoral area of Anse Boileau and former Speaker of the National Assembly.

ARID’s findings were made in a presentation held yesterday afternoon at the Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles (CEPS) office. The presentation was attended by ARID, electoral commission members and the local press.

ARID chairperson, Lucianna Sophola, stated that the Anse Boileau parliamentary by-election was “free, fair and transparent”.

Mrs Sophola stated that democracy in Seychelles is evolving and that ARID strongly believes that the current electoral reform steered by the Electoral Commission (EC) and all stakeholders will enhance this democracy.

The ARID mission observed that the preparations made by the Electoral Commission produced a clean process and efforts were made by the Commission in collaboration with ARID to provide electorates with voter’s education and timely information through the media.

“The Electoral Commission was in constant con

tact with ARID and we were able to dispatch observers to witness the whole voting process,” she said.

Mrs Sophola added that some minor, unacceptable practices were reported during the cooling off period.

The ARID chairperson explained that during the cooling off period some unacceptable practices like discouraging voters to vote were reported though evidence of such behaviour is not easy to gather. 

Other observations made were access to the ballot counting, delay in giving out the results and the provision of representatives from the political parties to witness the final counting.

The ARID observer’s mission noted that the Anse Boileau legislative by-election was conducted in accordance with the legal and constitutional framework of the country.

ARID commended the work of the Electoral Commission, the Police Force, the media and all stakeholders including the candidates involved in the electoral process for their participation.

Some other observations made by ARID include voting at the special polling stations on Praslin, Perseverance and North East Point Home for the Elderly where residents of Anse Boileau were based on the day of the by-election.

ARID also recommended to improve and standardize training of polling officers, consider public posting of results, establish effective complaint mechanism, enhance civic and voter’s education and establish clearer procedures for election staff working at the polling stations.