2020 Presidential and National Assembly elections |22 August 2020
Mr Lucas and his team during the press conference yesterday (Photo: Anel Robert)
Nomination dates tentatively set for September 16, 18
- Ballot papers to be printed in Dubai
The Electoral Commission of Seychelles (ECS) yesterday announced September 16 and September 18 as the tentative dates for the nomination of Presidential candidates and National Assembly candidates respectively, ahead of the elections in nine weeks.
The dates were announced by the chairperson of ECS Danny Lucas, who noted that the dates are to made official through publication in the Official Gazette on Monday, although leaders and representatives of the five registered political parties were yesterday informed of such through a meeting with the commission, held prior to the weekly press update.
“The Electoral Commission will publish the date for nomination by Monday, and nomination day will be separate for the Presidential election and the National Assembly election. Nomination of presidential candidates is September 16, 2020 and the date for the nomination of National Assembly candidates is September 18, 2020. The dates will be gazetted on Monday so officially, nothing has been set up, but we thought it necessary to, when hosting a dialogue with political parties, to inform them,” Mr Lucas said.
Chairperson Lucas also announced the Commission’s decision to have ballot papers printed in Dubai as opposed to domestically, in a bid to cut costs and ensure security of the ballot papers are not compromised.
Mr Lucas remarked that in any case, the commission would be required to send personnel overseas in order to ensure that the security features be installed in the paper, on account that such is not possible on the local market.
“The Commission was engaged with domestic printing houses and external printing houses. We have given all printing houses our requirements, and this started when we were only planning the Presidential election, and when we received feedback and the quotations, this was followed by the dissolution of the National Assembly, and we had to request that they consider ballot papers for two elections. When we received the quotations, the commission reviewed them and based on the figures and based on practical experience, the Electoral Commission has decided that ballot papers will be printed overseas, more specifically a print house in Dubai,” Mr Lucas added.
The process to procure ballot papers are to commence after nomination day, once all candidates have been finalised. The process of installing security features and printing the ballot papers is expected to take four days, and it will be more cost effective to print in Dubai even with the associated cost of accommodating a polling agent from each political party for the duration of the printing process, Mr Lucas stated.
Regarding the budget for the election, which was allocated R15 million prior to the dissolution of the National Assembly, and President Danny Faure’s decision to hold both the Presidential and National Assembly elections simultaneously for economic reasons, Mr Lucas noted that the allocated budget is “insufficient”, although he noted good cooperation between the commission and Ministry of Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning.
“Overall, things are working well. Local procurement has been completed. We need to procure some materials overseas, and all has been paid for, and we have been promised that the shipments will arrive soon.”
In preparation for the two-in-one elections, the commission has decided to train electoral officers and deputy electoral officers who are responsible for overseeing the elections. The first cohort of officers are currently undergoing a specialised training programme at The Guy Morel Institute (TGMI). The programme is set to run even after the elections so as to guarantee a pool of competent candidates for future elections.
Asides from nomination dates and ballot printing, Mr Lucas addressed voter education to familiarise voters with the new voting process following recent amendments to election laws.
“There will be many changes. The secretariat has a Voters’ Education programme to be released soon, and this will tell voters exactly the voting process in the two upcoming elections. One of the major changes for instance, is the way in which voters queue up. We are now going to go through alphabetical streams and different voting facilities for each alphabetic stream. And we are doing this pro-rata, meaning based on the population of each district,” Mr Lucas explained.
Based on complaints of electoral offences received by the Commission, the secretariat is collaborating with the Seychelles Police Force (SPF) for a voters education campaign on offences to be published next week, chief electoral officer (CEO) Manuella Amesbury said. Voters education regarding the voting process is scheduled for mid-September.
Mr Lucas concluded by commending members of the ECS and assuring that they strive for credibility and impartiality.
The Presidential and National Assembly elections have been set for October 22, 23 and 24, 2020.