Times Of Swaziland: VOTERS LET SECRET OUT

VOTERS LET SECRET OUT
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BY SIBONGILE SUKATI on 22/08/2018 05:31:00


MANZINI – Smartphones have ensured that the secret ballot is no longer
private.
This was realised yesterday during the special voting exercise held at the
Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre, where voters used their cellphones to take
pictures of candidates they had voted for, much against the rules of the
‘secret ballot’.
After making the X mark across the face of their chosen candidate, the voters
would then send WhatsApp messages to the candidates they had voted for as
evidence that they had indeed voted for them.
With the new WhatsApp feature which shows that a message has been forwarded, it
would be impossible to get the picture from another voter as it would be a clear
sign that the photograph was not an original screenshot.
Voters, as is the law, were allowed to be in the polling booth on their own and
that was when they sneaked in an opportunity to take pictures of who they had
voted for.
One woman, when interviewed, confirmed that she had done so to give proof to the
candidate that she had voted for her.
“I want my preferred candidate to have a peace of mind knowing that I voted
for her,” she said.
Others stated that the candidates had demanded pictorial evidence of whom they
had voted for.
“The candidates said they have spent a lot of money on people who alleged that
they voted for them yet it was not the situation,” said another voter.
Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) Chairperson, Chief Gija said he was
not aware of the latest twist as he had not yet been briefed by the team as he
was not at Mavuso.
He said it would be unfortunate if voters had taken such steps because it was
known that voting was held under a secret ballot.
He said the fact that yesterday was reserved for professionals to vote, they had
hoped that they would follow the law.
One of the candidates under the Hhohho Region, however, said he did not approve
of the antics used by some of their competitors.
“This can have a negative effect in the sense that a person could start
tallying up the number of votes they were expecting from the special voting
exercise, yet the final result could give far less figures,” said the
candidate. Although members of the public were discouraged by the police from
using their cellphones inside the polling station, it was impossible to stop one
from taking pictures once in the privacy of the polling booth. The EBC had
reserved the upper galleries of the Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre pavilions
for the candidates, elections observers and the media, to follow the proceedings
as each voter made their choice.
Some of the voters would boldly wave at the candidates after depositing their
votes, while others avoided eye contact with nominees.