The Commissioner, East, of the National Electoral Commission, Aiah Mattia, has told Politico that his commission is ready to conduct elections as scheduled and that the data collection process which is being consolidated will be wrapped up this week. In this exclusive interview to mark 100 days to voting day, the commissioner was assertive about progress so far. Read full interview:
Politico: Mr. Mattia with just a few weeks (100 days) to voting day, how prepared is NEC to conduct free, fair and credible elections?
Mattia: We are prepared and may be preparation is a continuous process...but we are dealing with all the stages according to plan. The current process we are on is the finalisation of the voters’ register. We did the exhibition, we distributed ID cards and we also dealt with people who needed to be included or people who did not receive their ID cards because of one reason or the other. This data is being consolidated at Wellington and the exercise will be wrapped-up today. At the end of August all those people who did not receive their ID cards for one reason or the other will be issued with their ID cards in the meantime, those people who did not collect their voter ID cards...still have the opportunity to collect those cards at the district electoral offices between now and the eve of the elections.
Politico: And what happens once registered voters have collected their cards?
Mattia: When we finalise the voters register, we take nominations. On the side of the voter, as long as the voter has collected his or her voter ID card that completes the registration process for that voter and the only other stage at which the person will be involved is to come out on the 17 of November to cast his/her vote for the various elective offices – i.e. the president, legislature, local councils for which elections will be held on November 17.
Politico: After all of these have happened in terms of people registering to vote and collecting their voter ID cards and the nominations, what other plans do you have before voting day?
Mattia: Nomination process will start on 12 Sept approximately one month from now. The nomination will be a process. A Meeting will be organised for political parties and training will be conducted for those parties as well as for individuals to tell them what is expected of them and to give them the relevant forms and time to complete the forms.
The forms will be returned after one week for NEC to vet the forms to ascertain that the forms were properly filled in accordance with the legal framework.
The nominations will take place according to the layer of elections. The presidential nominations will take place at the national level and will be handled by the Chief Electoral Commissioner and chairperson who is the returning officer for presidential election but nominations for parliament and the local councils will be handled by the district electoral offices where the district electoral officers will be the returning officers under the supervision of the Electoral Commissioner with oversight responsibility for the region in which the district is located.
Politico: Is that a new thing or is that the way it used to happen?
Mattia: It is not a new thing really. That’s how it used to happen in the past for nominations for the local councils to be handled at the district level while nominations for parliament are handled at the national level. So it’s not a new thing in that respect.
Politico: Logistically, is NEC prepared to conduct the elections as things stand now, do you have the means to send for example voting material all over the country?
Mattia: We are prepared for that. We were able to send registration materials all over the country and we were also able to send exhibition materials all over the country; in fact to more centres because registration took place in four phases while the exhibition took place in one phase covering about a total of 3000 centres to which we sent exhibition materials and logistics. So that’s part of the preparation and we will be ready to send election materials to all the places where elections will take place.
Politico: Clearly, there will be more polling stations than there were registration centres, which means you will need more logistics…right?
Mattia: Yes definitely but we have planned for it. Because of the number of elections we will be conducting on the same day, we will obviously need more polling stations because we want to reduce the number of voters that will be assigned to a particular polling station, which means an increase in polling stations to approximately 9,000. And we have planned for that and we will ensure that the logistics are provided and the relevant personnel are selected and trained using the procedures and manuals and the instruments that will be required to administer the elections.
Politico: Are you concerned that people will be voting on one ballot paper at one go for four elections – president, parliament, council for either district chairmen or mayors – are you concerned that these elections are many in view of the country’s illiteracy rate?
Mattia: They will not actually be voting for all those people on the same ballot paper. For each election, there will be a separate ballot paper. I agree with you that the elections are many but we have also planned to ensure that a voter’s choice is exercised in a manner that is not confusing to him or her. In other words, we will not give four ballot papers to a voter at the same time to cast his/her vote for president, parliament, local council and chairmen and mayors. What will do is to organise the polling steps in such a manner that a voter will receive the relevant ballot paper and cast that ballot paper before the voter is given another ballot paper to cast it at the next stage. And at every stage, there will be ballot paper issuers and ballot box controllers who will issue the voter with a ballot paper as long as the voter has been identified as the correct voter; they will give him or her, the ballot paper to cast in the relevant ballot box. So we have planned for that, the procedures will be in place and the relevant personnel will be there to ensure that people are able to exercise their franchise in secrecy and also correctly.
Politico: Seems that will take far more time than it used to happen; you have to go through all that procedure they will need more time, so do you think the number of hours assigned to polling day will be enough for 2.6 million voters to cast their votes.
Mattia: Yes, we have taken the number of voters at the election into consideration and in fact we have retracted the time by one hour. We want polling to close at 4 pm instead of 5 pm – that’s what is in the design. But that’s the reason we have decided to reduce the number of voters to 350 from 400, 450 to 300. So in that respect, we should be able to handle the number of voters within the stipulated time and in fact, conclude counting before nightfall because we are also taking into consideration the challenges of providing light and electricity on voting day.
Politico: Does NEC have all the resources they need to conduct the election in a free, fair and credible manner?
Mattia: Yes, we have the resources; mind you these elections are as a result of a strategic plan that was put in place at the end of the first electoral cycle in 2010. And since then, we have been working assiduously in consultation with stakeholders and donors and the government and we have been mobilising resources. So in terms of delivering the elections, we know that there will be challenges which will not only be related to material issues, there will also be challenges in the landscape, challenges in other cultural and social issues. But on the balance of circumstances, the commission is very reasonably prepared to deliver credible elections.
Politico: Is it true that the Commission is considering reversing its recently announced nomination fees for candidates?
Mattia: Yes, in fact we ended a meeting about an hour ago with various stakeholders and the commission is not averse to reviewing the prescribed fees but we also need to know that there is a legal process involved in that the fees will be finalised through a process of prescription, gazetting and parliamentary ratification. So the process is on and very soon, that is a matter of a day, the public will be informed about the nomination fees which individual candidate or political parties will have to pay for the 2012 elections.
Politico: Will it be a considerable climb down or will we even go back to the 2007 fees?
Mattia: No way are we going back to the 2007 fees because we think those figures have absolutely no relationship with the prevailing circumstances but at the same time, we think that the reviewed fees are reasonable by every measurement and by every standard.
Politico: Will it be a half reduction or more than half?
Mattia: I would not want to go into those details because as I said, in the next couple days, it will be done but what I have said is that the fees have been reviewed and by all accounts a political candidate intended to run for public office that has the related importance and responsibilities should be able to afford the reviewed fees.
Politico: Thank You.
© Politico 09/08/12
