- nine for council and one for parliamentary
- regional committee submits recommendations to CC for an ultimate decision
- Awaits determination on Maun East constituency representation
The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) North West Region chairperson, Judge Sango has confirmed that they recently handled 10 primary elections appeals and subsequently submitted recommendations to the party’s Central Committee (CC) for an ultimate decision.
Following the party’s primary elections that were marred with several appeals, the central committee thereafter instructed all the regional committees to handle the appeals and submit their recommendations by end of last week.
The North West region’s appeals according to Sango comprised of nine wards and one parliamentary constituency of Okavango West. It turns out Akim Setswalo who lost the elections to Sekwaya Pikinini after securing only 1379 votes against his 1453 votes has appealed the outcome.
While Sango could not share the reasons advanced by the appellants, this publication however understands most argue that the party’s primary elections’ regulations which include dates and timelines of voting were violated.
In one case, the appellant argues that together with his supporters, they were only informed late about the venue, date and time where the primary elections were held, which is against the party’s regulations.
The BDP constitution states that, “the venue where a primary election is to be held and the date and time of such election shall be announced to all candidates, and as much as possible to members of the party in the constituency or Ward as the case may be.”
Others have complained that while the party’s constitution dictates that the dates of the primary elections shall be determined by the central committee, there were instances were voting was conducted on the 28th instead of the 27th that was set by the committee.
“I do not want to comment on that in case I prejudice the outcomes of the hearing. The concerns were generic but I do not want to say more on it,” Sango said.
Meanwhile the final decision on the recommendations submitted by the regional committees is expected to be made by the central committee by end of this week.
Asked about what would be their next step when the outcome of the central committee does not favor them, some appellants said they would have to reluctantly accept the result in fear of being victimised by the party.
For his part, Sango reminded those who would be aggrieved by the outcomes to understand that the party is bigger than an individual and as per the BDP regulations they would therefore be obligated to rally behind those who would have won.
“Our advice to democrats is very clear, we believe we have done justice to the appellants by giving them a platform as per the regulations of the party to exercise their rights. They were listened to and the determination would be made in accordance with the provision of the regulations of primary elections by the central committee,” he stressed.
With just over a month remaining before the general elections some democrats are frustrated that the delay in finalising the appeals would disadvantage them against the opposition which has already launched robust campaigns.
While he admits that time is not on their side, Sango said there was very little that could have been done for the primaries to have been held a lot earlier owing to the delimitation exercise.
“The main contributing factor was the delimitation exercise, it affected the party’s plans but as a democratic organisation there is no how we can circumvent a due process in anyway. Everything should be run in accordance with our procedure and processes. The party had to wait for the determination of that commission and that on its own took time,” he said, adding that the party will have to make with the time available.
Meanwhile, Sango further revealed that they still await the central committee to announce the party’s parliamentary candidate for Maun East following the vetting out of initial aspitrants, Konstantinos Markus, Reaboka Mbulawa and Chris Bethia.
“Maun East we are still waiting on the leadership and I am sure that the next seating they will come up with the determination and put the issue to finality.”
The party’s Secretary General, Kavis Kario has previously told this publication that the announcement would be made by the central committee through President Mokgweetsi Masisi after the primary elections.
