Electoral Commission gears up for upcoming Presidential election |07 February 2020
In preparation for the upcoming Presidential election this year, the Electoral Commission of Seychelles (ECS) is launching an appeal to all citizens qualified to vote to register.
The voter registration exercise will stop as soon as the election dates are announced. Therefore, the ECS is strongly recommending citizens to register now.
The current register which closed on December 31, 2019 is being finalised and is currently open for inspection from February 3 -14, 2020 during weekdays only at the locations already advertised in the Seychelles NATION of Monday February 3. This will be another opportunity for citizens to check and ensure they are on the register and their registration details up to date.
Nevertheless, continuous registration is ongoing for those not yet registered.
Encouragingly, the ECS has noted a significant increase in the number of voter registration applications received and processed during the past months.
It is also to be noted that the register for the Perseverance electoral area has been established.
The ECS has rectified most of the anomalies identified on the 2019 certified voters register. The outstanding anomalies are being addressed in collaboration with relevant authorities, namely the department of Immigration & Civil Status and
department of Information, Communications and Technology. The anomalies are mostly related to NIN, names, deceased and ages of voters on the database.
The ECS has also submitted to the Office of the Attorney General its comments on the proposed amendments to the Elections Act, the Political Parties Act and the Constitutional amendments in relation to the recommendations for electoral reform.
Some of the key activities for election preparedness being undertaken currently are:
• The identification and setting up of an Election Headquarters in Victoria,
• Site visits and assessments of voting stations on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue,
• Reviewing of regulations, guidelines and processes in line with the introduction of the alphabetical voting system to be used in the next election.
The ECS is currently finalising the process of clearing up the Political Parties Register by taking steps to unregister a few political parties based on their own requests and/or as a result of being non-compliant with the Political Parties Act. These are being done following due process as required by law.
The ECS will be ensuring stricter compliance to the Political Parties Act by Political Parties by putting in place a monitoring system to that effect.
The ECS is grateful for the support and assistance being provided by all its partners and stakeholders as well as the general public and looks forward to your continuous support in ensuring the success of this next election.
Contributed by the Office of the Electoral Commission