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done, it is explained, “to ensure that their respective
databases, as they relate to the eligibility or potential
eligibility of voters, are in harmony with each other.”
The section also provides that, “The Commission and the
former Registrar-General of Voters in his or her capacity as
the Registrar-General of Births and Deaths, the RegistrarGeneral of Citizenship and the Registrar-General of
National Registration, have a duty to cooperate with each
other to ensure that their respective databases, as they
relate to the eligibility or potential eligibility of voters, are
in harmony with each other.
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Section 3
The new section 18(5) of the Electoral Act gives the Minister
power to make regulations, after consultation with the
Commission and the former Registrar-General of Voters, The
regulations may provide for the following:
(a) the manner of dealing with any confidential information
in the custody of the former Registrar-General of Voters
and the conditions under which it may be shared with the
Commission; and
(b) the resolution of any discrepancies between the records
General of Citizenship and the Registrar-General of National
Registration, as will ensure the efficient, free, fair, proper and
transparent conduct of any election or referendum.” This provision
is troubling as it clearly brings back the RGV through the backdooran office that has been abolished by this particular amendment. Its
retention even in a qualified role is astounding, given the troubled
history of the RGV’s office and the role it has played in overseeing
disputed elections in the past decade. Even more crucially the
import of the amendment is to bring back institutions that have
clearly been made redundant by the constitution. The amendment
restores the very mischief the Constitution sought to address.
The thread of the worrying provisions of the amendment continues
through section of 4 of part VI of which seems to put a
constitutionally entrenched body at the same level with the office of
the Registrar General. The section puts a burden on the Commission
by providing that, “The Commission and the former RGV…… have a
duty to cooperate with each other” in relation to the eligibility of
voters. The RGV’s office has clearly been brought hack through the
back door. It is quite clear that the Constitution sees no role for the
office of the RGV in election management bodies. The amendments
to the electoral Act are, with respect, unconstitutional and should be
repealed to the extent articulated above.
This amendment is troubling in a number of ways:
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Firstly such an intrusive power into information regarding the voters
rolls amounts to interference with the mandate of a constitutionally
mandated body. These powers are not supported by any
constitutional provision and are clearly unconstitutional
Secondly, from the reading of the provision the minister is given a
free reign to come up with the regulations without taking into
consideration of the views of the Commission, as confirmed by the