Maseru, Sept. 27 — The opposition political party, Democratic Congress (DC) says it would like to see the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) comply with Section 7 (1) (c), (f), (3) and (4) of National Assembly Act 2011.
DC Spokesperson, Mr. Serialong Qoo told the Agency on Wednesday that the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) Secretary General Mr. Tsítso Cheba has written to the Director of Elections Advocate Mpaiphele Maqutu about non-compliance with section 7 of the National Assembly Electoral Act, 2011.
Mr, Qoo said the gist of the letter is that people who had applied for registration with IEC as voters from November 2022 to this year before registration was suspended for Local Government election were not issued with identifying numbers and voters cards.
‘This is a violation of Sec 7 (1) (c), (f), (3) and (4) of National Assembly Electoral Act, 2011.
‘As a result of this unlawful act some applicants whose names do not appear on the voters roll which you dispatched to the political parties recently are unable to follow up on their registrations’ he underlined.
Mr. Qoo therefore noted that DC NEC calls on IEC to immediately comply with the law, saying this breach of the law has a potential to deny people who want to vote in the coming election their right to do so.
In conclusion, he said the credibility of this election, and that of IEC as the institution, is at stake if IEC fails to take urgent corrective measures.
However, the Agency’s attempts to get a comment from the Director of Elections were not successful as his mobile phone rang unanswered when contacted for a comment.
The Local Government elections are scheduled to be held on Friday this week, with advanced voting set for Wednesday.
One of the IEC sources confirmed that IEC has received the letter and is currently working on it.