Times Of Swaziland: ‘It will take miracle to register 600 000’

‘It will take miracle to register 600 000’
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 BY SIBUSISO ZWANE on 20/06/2013 00:40:00


MBABANE – Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) Chairman Chief Gija
Dlamini said at this point it would take a miracle to register the targeted 600
000 people for elections.
In the beginning of the national elections registration process last month, the
chairman said the EBC targeted 600 000 Swazis but he later changed and said
there was no specific target number.
However, with only three days to go and with just over 300 000 registered
citizens, the chairman said it would indeed be a miracle to register another 300
000.
“Let me clarify that we are not targeting 600 000 people. This is simply the
number of the population that are eligible to vote this year. But it would be
historic if we could reach that number.
“There is no country in the world that can say the entire population eligible
to vote actually registers to vote,” explained Dlamini on national radio.
He mentioned that some countries were happy that they were at least able to get
30 per cent of their eligible population to vote but for Swaziland, the
situation was much different because well over 50 per cent was anticipated to be
registered by Sunday, the deadline.
The chairman pointed out that one of the challenges in reaching the 600 000 mark
was that some eligible citizens lived in far-flung areas across the globe and
were not easy reach.
“For instance, some Swazis work in various South African mines and for our
embassy to reach them wherever they are, is a logistical challenge.
“But what is very important is that Swazis are free to register without
inhibitions. Unlike in some countries, there is no penalty imposed on anyone who
will choose not to vote. Swaziland is a democratic country after all,” he
stated. The chief thanked companies and organisations for giving up a bit of
their production time to enable their employees to register for the elections.
He said the EBC wanted to give all a fair chance, including people living with a
physical disability.
Meanwhile, Gomza Dlamini, who is from a youth committee comprised of members
from different constituency centres, said many young people had registered and
were keen to          vote.