Mr Tiro Seeletso, IEC Secretary, receiving IDEA Publications from Ambassador Mustaq Moorad, International IDEA's Regional Director for Africa and the Middle East, August 2009. Photo: IDEA
International IDEA and the Electoral Reform International Services (ERIS) will undertake an audit of the Botswana elections scheduled for 16 October 2009. The audit will aim at assessing the country’s readiness for the 2009 elections, and study the legal framework for the elections with a view to determining the consistency with international law and good legal practices. Pertinent issues which will come under the spotlight include the mandate and powers of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of Botswana, especially to determine if the election management body is adequately independent and properly structured to deliver credible elections.
This will be the third time the performance of IEC is audited; the first being 1999 when the audit was funded by the British Higher Commission in Botswana, and the second in 2004 which was sponsored and carried out by International IDEA.
Mustaq Moorad, International IDEA’s Regional Director for Africa and the Middle East, said the Institute welcomed the opportunity to work with a Member State - Botswana joined International IDEA in 1997 - in an effort to engender capacity necessary to improve the country’s electoral experience. “In the past such audits have contributed significantly to efforts to improve the legal framework for elections in the country – recent efforts to reform the electoral laws and improve the IEC functioning clearly attest to the usefulness of these independent reviews by International IDEA and partners”, he said.
International IDEA produced an election audit methodology in 1999 which has since been piloted in the Botswanan and Zambian elections in 2004 and 2008, respectively. The audit will be carried out in phases which include observation of polling and counting plus interviews with stakeholders before a draft report is produced for discussion with the IEC and, finally, validated by stakeholders. The final audit report is expected to be produced by the beginning of 2010.
According to the IEC Secretary, Tiro Seeletso, the final phase of the audit will entail the organizing of a regional (SADC) workshop by the IEC and partners to discuss the audit report and also showcase the audit methodology.
The audit will be carried out by four consultants: John Turner from ERIS, Rushdi Nackerdien and Joram Rukambe from International IDEA, and David Sebudubudu from the University of Botswana.
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