Enlighten People on Elections

Civil society organisations and mass media have been urged to work together with the government to provide civic education for community members to be able to exercise their democratic right. This was said in Dar Es Salaam by the political parties registrar, Justice Francis Mutungi, during an event to launch the election observation report. Justice Mutungi said by providing education to community members it will give them the opportunity to be able to participate in the important democratic.

The truth is that every vote counts so in order to make democracy effective we must come together and provide education to community members so they be active participants, not simply observers,” he noted.

The report was released by Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) and Tanzania Civil Society Consortium for Election Observation (TACCEO). It detailed some of the issues which occurred during the 2015 general election in the country.

Expounding further, he said the competition experienced in the last election proved that democracy in the country has grown. He said the end of one election was the preparation of next election thus election stakeholders in the country should go through the report and work on the recommendations.

On Election laws in the country he said, civil society organizations are also required to comply with them and give feedback of the funds used in providing voter education. The law gives 90 days after election to provide a report on how they utilised the funds.

Presenting the report findings, LHRC and TACCEO representative, Mr Hamisi Mkindi said civic awareness was not accorded sufficient attention. “We have learnt that more than 60 per cent of respondents interviewed during the election campaign said they did not hear or participate in any form of civic or voters education in 2015,” he said.

Mr Mkindi further said the impacts of the situation were many including spoiled votes or ballot papers in which 3.29 per cent of total votes for presidential election were rejected as invalid ballot papers/votes in 2015 compared with 2.65 per cent of total votes for the 2010 election.

Presenting their recommendations, he said National Electoral Commission and Zanzibar Commission should formulate and implement a permanent national voter’s education strategic plan. “Offering education should be sustainable and we recommend it be provided for four years in between elections,” he elaborated.

He supplemented that the Registrar should intensify the enforcement of the election expenses law by adopting pro-active measures including the deployment of the investigators throughout the country at least during election periods.

Culled from Daily News