External
voting in Botswana
was introduced fairly recently, as part of a package of constitutional and
electoral reforms in 1997. The Constitutional Amendment Act of 1997,
section 4, subsection (a) reduced the voting age from 21 to 18 years,
while the Electoral Act section 5(3) amendment of 1997 permitted citizens
resident outside the country to vote externally. Other major reforms made at
the same time included the establishment of the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) and the introduction of a limit to the term of office of the
president to two terms of five years each. These substantive electoral reforms
were the first of their kind since Botswana attained its independence
from the United Kingdom (UK) in 1966. Previously, there had been occasional
minor amendments to the electoral law, for instance, relating to the procedure
for the counting of ballot papers, the type of ballot paper/discs, or
adjustments to the campaign spending limits for candidates and political
parties.
The reforms
of 1997 took two forms. Because they involved changing some clauses of the
constitution, those relating to the voting age and the establishment of the IEC
were preceded by a national referendum, while those relating to the amendment
of the electoral law were discussed and changed by the parliament without
recourse to public consultation. However, all the final decisions were made by
the parliament and acceded to by the president, thus becoming law.
These
reforms were the result both of a long period of advocacy, mainly by the
opposition parties and some sections of the civil society organizations, and of
the rapid political changes of a similar nature taking place in Southern Africa during the late 1990s. In particular,
changes made in Namibia in
1989, in Zambia in 1991, and
in Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa in 1994 all introduced
the concept of the independent electoral commission, made 18 years the voting
age, introduced a limited term for the presidency, and introduced external
voting, all as measures to extend democratic rights to wider sections of the
population. As a long-established democracy in the region, Botswana would
have appeared backward in the context of these changes taking place around it.
However, the government was selective in aligning itself with the electoral
reforms taking place in the region at the time. For example, the government and
the ruling party did not agree with two other proposals, on the funding of
political parties and change of the First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system
to the list proportional representation (PR) system which the opposition
parties were advocating and which was being adopted by Namibia, Mozambique
and South Africa
at the time.
The
external voting provisions permit all Botswanan citizens aged 18 years or above
residing abroad to vote every five years. External voters may vote only for
members of Parliament, not for local councillors. (Presidential elections are
indirect in Botswana:
the president is elected by Parliament.) External voting was introduced mainly
because of the concerns raised by the opposition parties. It was felt that
citizens outside Botswana
were being denied their democratic right to vote for their own government. With
the voting age being reduced to 18 years as opposed to 21, the external
voting-age population was increased, hence a need to involve them in voting.
External
voting procedure
External
voting procedure follows that which applies to registration and voting at home.
Normally there are two main periods of concentrated registration, followed by a
continuous registration until about six weeks or so before the election date.
External voters register at Botswanan embassies and high commissions abroad and
in major cities and centres in countries where there is expected to be an
eligible voter population. So far only Australia,
South Africa, the UK, the USA
and Zimbabwe
have had more than one polling station: the additional polling stations have
been in cities and in institutions other than the official Botswanan diplomatic
missions. External registration is normally administered by Botswanan mission
staff under the supervision of the IEC. In the 2004 elections many students
studying abroad were employed as registration and polling officers. The
register of external voters is kept by the head of the mission, who updates it
as people come to register.
Normally,
external voting takes place two weeks before the general elections at home. The
ballot papers are then brought to the IEC within a period of four days after
the voting. Upon arrival they are counted and allocated to constituencies on
the basis of the voters’ choices in the presence of the candidates and
political parties. This means that the results of external voting are known by
stakeholders a few days before the main voting takes place, but they are never
released before the rest of the results.
There is no
postal voting for external voters. Where there are no polling stations,
external voters are excluded from the right to vote. The argument is that the
numbers involved are too small to justify the cost. However, residents abroad
are free to go back to Botswana
first to register and later to vote. Many who live in South Africa
prefer to use this method.
External
voter participation
Botswanan
citizens resident outside the country were given the opportunity to exercise
their constitutional right to vote for the first time in the 1999 legislative
and local elections. The second time they experienced external voting was in
2004. Botswana’s
experience with external voting is thus limited to the two most recent
successive elections. When external voting was introduced in the 1997 reform,
significant numbers of citizens were residing outside the country. Most were
working people, migrant workers living in neighbouring South Africa and
students studying abroad.
The numbers
of eligible voters living abroad have fallen significantly since external
voting was introduced. We estimate from the censuses of population that in 2004
a total of 25,450 citizens were living abroad (including those under the age of
18), compared to 38,606 in 1991. Between 1971 and 2004 we estimate that the
expatriate population fell by over 20,000. This was a result of the reduced
work opportunities in South African mines and other industries beginning from
the early 1980s.
Participation
in elections by citizens living abroad has not been impressive. In 1999, out of
the 1,363 voters registered abroad, only some 23.3 per cent voted,
compared to a 77.1 per cent turnout by in-country voters. At the time the IEC
had restricted external voting to only six countries where there were
sufficiently large concentrations of eligible voters—Namibia,
South Africa, Swaziland, the UK,
the USA and Zimbabwe—and to
a total of 24 polling stations in these countries. In an attempt to increase
participation, during the 2004 elections the number of countries covered by
external voting was increased to 14. The number of polling stations—which were
mainly in Botswanan embassies or high commissions abroad and major cities, and
institutions of higher learning in the selected countries—also rose, from 24 in
1999 to 44 in 2004. However, the results of both registration and turnout were
still below expectations. Out of 2,436 external voters registered, only
49.5 per cent voted. This was still far below the 76.2 per cent voter
turnout recorded for the in-country voting population—although the very strong
increase since 1999 is worth highlighting. However, with only 2,436 people
registering to vote out of an estimated 25,450 citizens living abroad in 2004,
the rate of registration may be an even bigger issue than turnout.
External voter participation in the 1999 and 2004 botswana elections
Source: Independent Electoral Commission, Report on the General Election (Gaborone: Government Printer, 2004)
It is clear
that the IEC has not been impressed by the level of external voter
participation when it is set against the cost involved. The official reports on
both the 1999 and the 2004 general elections recommended review of the relevant
section of the law on external voting. External voting is likely not to last
very long in Botswana,
especially because its main advocates—the opposition parties—appear to have
become lukewarm about its overall impact on the results. The concern expressed
in the official report on the 1999 election was that, while provision for
external voting was an important attempt to extend the democratic process, its
value had proved disappointingly small that it would need careful review. The
official report on the 2004 election expressed the same concern. The IEC feels
that, given the scale of the logistical preparations involved, either the
provision relating to external voting should be reviewed or more funds should
be made available.
The cost of external voting
The IEC
does not have a separate budget for external voting. At the time of writing it
was still waiting for embassies and high commissions to submit data on the
costs of administering the voting in the respective countries. It was therefore
not possible to disaggregate the costs of external voting from the total
election costs. However, according to the IEC it is clear that its external
travel budget and the costs of paying students and others to supervise
elections abroad are very high. In the 2004 election the cost of external
travel was 647,950 pula (BWP—161,460 US dollars (USD)). This excludes
the costs of salaries, administration and supplies. However, the overall cost
of the elections had increased only marginally, from 19 million BWP in
1999 to 21 million BWP in 2004.
Conclusion
The
prospects for external voting in Botswana are not bright. The IEC
has recommended a review of the law in the past with a view to closing this
window. The main concerns seem to be the high cost per voter and the low level
of participation. The opposition parties, which were the drivers of the
external voting process, also appear much less enthusiastic than before about
defending the system.
