During 2002 the IEC organised workshops to strengthen its resource base and to widen collaboration with various stakeholders in elections with a view to getting them involved in the dissemination of civic and voter education.

Legislative Reform Workshop - February 2002.

A Legislative Reform Workshop was held in February 2002 to review and streamline the Electoral Act and the Referendum Act for consistency and complimentarity, and to remove ambiguities in the two pieces of legislation. Draft Codes of Conduct for political parties, the media and election observers were also discussed at the workshop. Recommendations from the workshop have since been forwarded to Government for consideration and action by Parliament.	.
		IEC Secretary conferring with the facilitator at the legislative workshop at The Grand Palm Hotel.

Civic and Voter Education Strategy Workshop - July 2002

The Civic and Voter Education Strategy development workshop was conducted in July 2002. The workshop discussed findings and recommendations of the Voter Apathy Study. The Civic and Voter Education Strategy Draft Outline was presented to the workshop participants for their input and ratification. The delegates, comprising representatives of non-governmental organizations; civil society, churches, the public and private sectors, parastatal bodies; political parties and the media, had the opportunity to appreciate the IEC policy document on civic and voter education curriculum. The civic and voter education programme is to be implemented jointly with other stakeholders in elections. Under the programme the IEC will intensify education interventions by utilising a variety of media outlets (print, electronic and interpersonal). The IEC will continue to conduct operations research on various aspects of elections to identify election-related problems and issues that need attention.

Stakeholder involvement in the development and implementation of the Communication Strategy is critical for making the programme a nationally produced and nationally driven initiative. These interactive consultations are essential and need to be sustained as building democracy cannot be the exclusive domain of the Commission.

Draft IEC Act

The Draft IEC Act is in the making. It is expected that the Act will be elaborate with legal prescription for the IEC to provide civic and voter education. The Act would also provide for the creation of conflict management structures such as an Electoral Tribunal and Party Liaison Committees to address conflict situations at election time.

The revised Daft Electoral Act, the Referendum Act, and the proposed IEC Act have since been finalized and presented to Government for consideration and action by Parliament.

The completion and implementation of these documents and structures will greatly enhance electoral management efficiency.

Voter Apathy Study

In view of the increasing voter apathy levels in the country, the IEC
commissioned the University of Botswana Democracy Research Project (DRP) to undertake a study to determine the root causes of the problem. The DRP was tasked to come up with recommendations on remedial measures that can be put in place to arrest creeping public disinterestedness in the electoral process in general, and elections in particular.

Some findings of the study

According to the findings of the study, a host of factors are held responsible for public disinterestedness in elections:

Transition to independence: The peaceful transition from colonial rule to independence and lack of involvement/mobilization of the general public in a liberation war as was the case in other countries has been identified as a factor contributing to widespread apathy. The situation created a passive society with no interest in the political life of the country.

Youth and political participation: The exclusion of youth (18-20 year olds) from participating as voters prior to 1999 general elections may be responsible for youth disengagement in the electoral process.

Culture of hereditary chieftainship: The traditional culture of ascending chieftainship power has killed the culture of participatory democracy. The notion that chiefs are born and not elected has made society submissive and not to challenge any leadership elected or not elected.

Civil society and elections: Churches and other associations that could reach out at voters on electoral matters do not interest majority of voters across all age groups. Batswana generally do not participate in civic organisations' activities. Most of the associations do not discuss national political issues or encourage their membership to register to vote.

Sourcing out information: Up until 1999 general elections no political education programme was in place and not much so far has been done in this area by the IEC. Voter education is the crucial function of the IEC. The IEC has to make available standard civic and voter education materials for use by identified NGOs to carry out voter education. There is observable decrease in the level of apathy among men, and a comparable increase in respect of women. This notwithstanding, women remain apathetic although they vote more than men.

Voting process: The use of Omang creates problems for voters since it takes time to renew expired ones. Flexibility in the use of Omang should be considered. Extensive voter education on the use of ballot paper is required. More ways to be explored to reduce time spent on queues. The issue of vote transfers (in case of civil servants) has to be addressed.

Voter education: Should be target group- specific and emphasise on the importance of voting (voters need to know why they should vote). Voter education to take cognizance of voters' education status; location of voters; and employment status of voters for purposes of material relevance and methodology to be used during information dissemination.

Botswana's electoral democracy: Some features of our democracy may be responsible for apathy. These include:

• The fact that there are no presidential elections in Botswana does not create enthusiasm in elections;
• Too much control over entry of new candidates into a constituency at party level. This kills the spirit of competition among prospective candidates; and
• Petty politics at freedom squares has the potential to diminish voter interest in politics and the general electoral process.

Civic and Voter Education Curriculum

The Commission now has a civic and voter education curriculum. In order to reach out to the electorate with identical messages and educational programmes the IEC is designing and producing standardised voter education materials and formulating strategies for delivering the programme in collaboration with stakeholders. Priority will be given to making IEC - civil society partnership stronger and more effective.

Curriculum Content

Delimitation of Constituencies

The demarcation of constituency boundaries is on-going following the 2001 Population and Housing Census. The process is expected to be complete by the end of 2002. The execise will be followed by the demarcation of polling districts and identification of polling stations by the Commission.