The Electoral Commission obviously will need a substantial body of staff to carry out the work needed on the ground to fulfil the Commission’s onerous functions in connection with elections. It is vitally important that these staff members be properly trained and they must perform all their duties professionally and without political bias.10 It is commendable that under the Bill employees of the Police Force, Defence Forces and the Prison Service can no longer be seconded as staff of the Commission except where their services are required for the provision of security.11 However, it is hoped that this provision will not be circumvented by seconded persons such as recently retired members of the armed forces. It should also be pointed that on the staff of the Commission there are already a number of ex-military officers dealing with electoral management Even though these persons resigned from their military positions when they were engaged, there is a perception that the management of elections has been heavily militarised. The Bill should also explicitly exclude members of intelligence services. Members of these forces are now viewed as being politically partisan and the use of such personnel in connection with elections is intimidatory. The pool of persons who can now be seconded to the Commission has been expanded. Now not only persons employed by the Public Service Commission may be seconded; the Commission can also call upon the Health Services Board and responsible authorities of any statutory or local government body to make their employees available for election service. The Registrar-General of Voters The Bill will make the Commission, rather than the Registrar-General, responsible for keeping and maintaining voters rolls.12 This is a welcome change, but the Bill fails to make a clear demarcation between the functions of the Commission and the Registrar-General in regard to voter registration. Thus, while the Commission will “keep and maintain” the rolls, the function of registering voters and updating the rolls will remain with constituency registrars, who are under the control of the Registrar-General. Furthermore, it is doubtful if the Commission has the capacity to keep and maintain the rolls itself, and it will probably have to rely heavily on the Registrar-General’s office to help it carry out its new responsibilities. The Bill will require the Registrar-General to get permission from the Commission, rather than the Minister, before delegating his functions to some other member of the Public Service. 13 To the extent that this gives the Commission greater responsibility over the electoral process, it is to be welcomed. The Electoral Court The Electoral Court has remained in limbo since the Supreme Court’s judgment in Marimo & Anor v. Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs & Ors (S-25-2006) was delivered in July last year. The Supreme Court held that the method by which judges of the Electoral Court were appointed contravened section 92 of the Constitution. The Bill will correct the Electoral Act in this regard.14 The amendment is welcome, but long overdue. 10 A number of senior staff of the Commission have recently been appointed from the public service. A view been expressed that these appointments should not have been made until the issue of the composition of the Commission itself had finally been resolved during the mediation process. 11 Clause 18 of the Bill. 12 Clause 21 of the Bill. 13 Clause 20 of the Bill. 14 Clause 77 of the Bill. 7