EBC adds 124 voting centres

MBABANE — The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) has arranged about 460 polling stations for the upcoming primary elections on Saturday.

This was revealed by the EBC Deputy Chairman, Mzwandile Fakudze, during an interview yesterday.
Fakudze said initially the EBC had 336 nomination centres two weeks ago when the nomination of potential Members of Parliament, Tindvuna TeTinkhundla   and Bucopho took place mostly, at chiefdoms (imiphakatsi), while others took place in nearby schools.

Fakudze said there was a need to add the polling stations so that the electorate could be able to access the stations without many challenges.
“Some of the chiefdoms are very big and for people to be able to access the polling stations it was imperative that we move them closer to them to ensure that the voting process goes on smoothly,” said Fakudze.

He said a majority of the polling centres would be schools and further encouraged the electorate to vote at the polling centres written on their voter cards.
Fakudze said special voting would only be available for the polling staff and security personnel working on Saturday.
He said although it had not been finalised when they would vote, it was expected to be before Saturday.

Fakudze said no special arrangement had been made for people who would be working, such as police officers, but said employers were encouraged to ensure that each person was given the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right to vote.

... Apollo Printers wins E2.8m elections tender

MBABANE – Apollo Printers (PTY) LTD has won the tender for the printing of ballot papers to be used for the 2013 National General Elections.

The company, situated at the Industrial Site in Mbabane, will be paid E2.8 million for the job.

The Times newspaper under-stands that Apollo Printers had been shortlisted with two other companies, one of which is Face Technologies – a South African company that won the tender for the provision of voter regis-tration and voting machinery.
The other company, it has been gathered, is Lithotech – which is also a South African company that had also contested the voter registration and voting machin-ery tender.

confirmed

Sabelo Dlamini, the Public Relations Officer of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), yesterday confirmed Apollo’s tender victory.
“Yes, the tender for the printing of ballot papers has been given to Apollo Printers at a cost of E2.8 million,” he said.
Dlamini did not want to name other companies that were competing with Apollo as he said such would not be fair to them.
“They might assume that we are mocking them if we reveal their names,” he said.
Specifications for the ballot papers to be produced by Apollo Printers include ‘full colour printing on white paper – with counterfoil and ballot numbering’.

The paper type has to be a standard 80gsm bond paper to be printed on A4 and A3 paper depending on the number of candidates contesting the election.
The paper has to be printed on both sides.

The ballot face is supposed to be printed in full colour, incorporating coloured photos, logos, candidate details, instructions and other necessities.
The reverse side of the ballot paper has to be printed in one full colour.

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