DC wants IEC grilled over ballot papers

MASERU – The Democratic Congress (DC) appears to be reeling from shock after it was spanked out of power by the newly formed Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) during last month’s general election.

The party now says it suspects the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) tinkered with the ballot papers ahead of the October 7 general election in which it performed dismally.

The DC secretary general, Tšitso Cheba, told thepost that the party now strongly believes that the ballot papers had already been marked when they came to Lesotho.

The party is now demanding an explanation from the IEC after making the bizarre claim.

The DC wants the IEC to explain the procurement procedures it followed in buying the ballot papers.

Cheba said they will write to the IEC requesting it to address their grievances.

He said they want the names of the company that printed the ballot paper and the criteria that was used to choose the company.

The party also wants to know the names of the people who were part of the delegation to select the company.

As per the Electoral Act, the DC has until today to lodge its complaints with the IEC.

“We do not want to talk much about the (election) irregularities now,” Cheba said.

“But we have some grievances. Some things were not done right,” he said.

He said their suspicion about the ballot papers “is a huge national matter that needs to be handled with care”.

“It is for this reason that we request a clear report on how the company was picked,” he said.

“We believe there was foul play by the IEC on the ballot papers and the related issues.”

The ballot papers were printed by a Durban-based company called Uniprint after a group of journalists, political parties, security agencies, and the IEC went to several companies that showed interest in printing the ballot papers for Lesotho.

The trips were aimed at inspecting whether the printing companies were suitable for the job.

The ones that were visited are Lebone Litho which is based in Johannesburg, Reform based in Johannesburg, Election Management consultancy based in Johannesburg, Inside Date which is based in Durban, Uniprint that is based in Durban and Elevara Election Service that is based in Durban.

Amongst other things, the purpose of the trips was to inspect if each company has fencing walls, armed guards, cameras surrounding the premises, burglar proofing, a visitors’ card, and fire extinguishers.

The inspection of the companies was done on July 19.

One of the political representatives who were part of the panel told thepost that “it would not be possible for the printing company to do some fishy things as they were chosen by a panel, not an individual”.

“We were all there to inspect the companies and the company that was picked was the best,” he said, asking not to be named.

Meanwhile, the Prayer Shawl and Light (PSL) party, which also contested the elections and lost, has also launched a complaint against the IEC.

It said their party representatives were left behind by the IEC when the inspection of companies to print the ballots was done.

The party wrote to the IEC last week complaining about what it claimed were irregularities, corruption deals, unfairness, and misconduct by the IEC personnel, party agents and the police officers.

“There were no notifications concerning printing, collection, and everything involving the availability of the ballots.”

The party said they encountered a lot of corrupt activities that included failure to hold advance voting in Mahobong as promised.

It further complained that there was a corrupt voting procedure in Hlotse where party agents were sitting outside while voting was taking place inside the IEC offices at  the Leribe head office.

The IEC could not be reached for comment as the spokesman’s phone went unanswered.

Nkheli Liphoto