WHY WE MUST HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THE SRC ELECTORAL COMMISSION

WHY WE MUST HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THE SRC ELECTORAL COMMISSION.

It has being a while since I scribble on happenings within students' politics. It is not because there is non to write on. Indeed, there are a myriad of issues begging for attention. My readers should forgive me for this unusual loud silence from me. It is simply as a result of technical reasons, as my blog is being upgraded to include more modern features. Very soon, I shall bounce back strongly to share my opinionated side of happenings in campus politics as part of my duty to contributing to institutional reforms all for the welfare of the ordinary student.

Now to the substantive issue. Election is an integral part of our democracy because it is the medium by which we elect our leaders. Indeed, it is the process through which the electorates give their mandate to individuals or groups to lead them. In the politics of the University of Education, elections are always fiercely contested. At least, for my about three years in this University, all the elections I have witnessed, are always keenly contested, sometimes amidst heightened tension among the student populace. Thankfully, peace has always prevailed despite some few challenges here and there.

I have opined time without number that if and only if we want to continue to conduct free and fair elections, we must be upgrading our electoral system through electoral reforms to take care of the emerging challenges.
It was at the back of this wisdom, I wrote an article "An open letter to the SRC Electoral Commissioner, S K SEYRAM"
For the purposes of reflective memory and to the benefit of those who did not read that article, it is referenced below;
http://denisandabanblog.blogspot.com/2017/11/an-open-letter-to-src-electoral.html

In that letter I had raised a number of issues to justify the need for electoral reforms. Summarily, I called on the Electoral commissioner, to create more polling stations, stop the practice of declaring the election results of regular students while evening students are still voting because of time disparity for the regular and evening schools. I also rendered that the debate for whether or not to use electronic voting or manual should be sparked. At the time of writing that piece, I was actually ready to use any possible means through the law court to ensure that there are actually significant reforms in the coming elections.

In the first Local Assembly for the second semester, the Constitutional Instrument was laid by the Electoral Commission Chairman S K A Seyram. I was absolutely amused and extremely happy to see the creativity and innovations in the regulations to govern the election. The EC has virtually addressed all the issues that I and others raised. In fact, that CI was very brief and straightforward on all the issues. No wonder, the Local Assembly approved the Constitutional Instrument with alacrity and thunderous voice.

What particularly made the CI  the best is that, it had increased the number of polling stations to take care of the increase in student population. Instead of the usual one polling station per each level, there are now two polling station per each level. Meaning that the number of polling stations have increased to about hundred percent(100%). Students will no longer have to queue for hours in order to cast their votes. This is a relief to the student populace since the period is also a critical time for students to revise vigorously in preparation towards end of semester examination. Clearly, the Electoral Commission is such a listening body that has the welfare of the students in mind.

Equally important pointing out is the fact that, the electoral commission has brought in an innovative regulation to address the perennial canker of littering our campus with posters of candidates as we post them all over, making the campus filthy and unspeakable of an enviably, noble institution like ours. Candidates have been banned from printing paper posters, rather they are to print few banners to be pasted at designated areas by the Electoral Commission. I am of the view that, it would also save the purse of these candidates from printing posters unnecessarily. Probably, because the chairman of the Electoral Commission was a candidate in the 2016/2017 election, he lucidly comprehends what goes into printing of posters and probably want to avert that avoidable burden on candidates.

Also, this year election will also see some harmony and uniformity since voting will start and end on same time for both the regular and evening students. This should be good news for candidates. In previous elections, candidates who had led in the results for the regular students' results, normally enjoyed some consolidated endorsement at the evening students' polling station. This is because results for the regular students were declared while evening students were still voting. This was creating all sorts of irregularities in the voting process as candidates tried to explore unethical means to influence the elections, having known their performance for the regular session.

Our people say that, if the village market will be full, it starts from morning. The early signs demonstrated by the EC give me hope and the conviction, that it is going to conduct a free and fair elections. It is very obvious. Even in the recruitment of staff, I have noticed a difference. Unlike the previous years where people privileged to serve the commission recruited their friends and relatives, this year, you must have to go through an online application where you would be scrutinized thoroughly before getting the chance. This is to protect the credibility of the Electoral body and as well ensure that malpractices are eradicated from our elections.

Even though, it is just the beginning, I am very confident that the Electoral Commission will do a good job. What I do expect from the Commission is to remain firm and committed in the implementation of the Constitutional Instruments.

We as student politicians are also to monitor the Electoral Commission seriously so that should we identify any conundrum, we can raise a red flag for a quick redress. The candidates also have an added responsibility to cooperate with the Electoral body so that at the end of the day, COLTEK becomes the winner.

As it stands now, I have confidence in the Electoral Commission to do a better job than what happened in previous years.
I wish all candidates well in the impending elections.


Denis Andaban
denisandaban@gmail.com