Preparations for the upcoming local government elections are underway. They were scheduled to take place in February 2021 following the expiration of the five-year term for the current leaders but were postponed due to Covid-19. Addressing the National Consultative Forum of Political Organizations (NFPO), Kalisa Mbanda the Chairman of National Electoral Commission (NEC) on September 23, said that the Commission made some changes in order to conduct the elections in a safe way while observing Covid-19 protocols. Here are the five key things highlighted about the elections; 1. Dates for elections The elections will begin in the last week of October, and end in the second week of November, and the exercise will be conducted in three weeks. “We cannot say the precise dates, because we have to plan and make sure there are no contradictions with other plans and election laws, and then we will communicate the dates to the public.” He said. 2. Submission of Candidatures Candidatures will be submitted online, and the dates of submitting will be announced. “There is an email, a candidate needs to send all the documents, we have a worker in every district that receives these candidature and follows up on them and gives feedback, so by the time the period of giving candidatures is over we will know the ones we have.” He said. 3. Campaigns will be online The ones who will be qualified will conduct campaigns online. “We strongly discourage gatherings for campaigns, the candidates will use online platforms like social media and conduct their campaigns there, However there will be a body in charge of following these online campaigns to make sure that the candidates are putting out the right messages. If not they will be stopped and take further action.” He added. “We urge all political parties to urge their members, voters and candidates to refrain from gatherings for campaigns and instead opt to conduct their campaigns online.” He added. However this applies to candidates who will be campaigning for the district level posts, and the rest from sector to village level, will campaign in front of voters on the day of elections to reduce the number of gatherings. 4. Limited gatherings and strict Covid-19 guidelines To reduce gatherings, every Isibo will vote for three representatives to go and vote at the village level. “Usually village level elections were done with a huge number of people in attendance, but we will organize a way, where every Isibo which sometimes consists of at least 200 people will gather and vote, because it is a small manageable group.” He said. Mbanda added that this will reduce the whole gathering of thousands of people but only their representatives will be present. “Every voter will be required to bring their own pen for elections, for those who will not we will give them one, and we will reduce the number of papers to be used, so as not to share these stationeries, and we will make sure we sanitize all the things being used.” He added. 5. Increased number of voting sites and voting days “We are increasing the number of voting sites in some sectors that have many residents, because we do not want voters to be crowded in one place, but this will not affect the budget.” He said Mbanda added that they will increase numbers of voting days, where voters will be able to vote for their leader but in two days, as a way of reducing big gatherings to one day.” Meanwhile, the National Consultative Forum of Political Organizations (NFPO) voted for a new spokesperson, Fatu Harerimana, Executive Secretary of Ideal Democratic Party (PDI). Harerimana said that she will work with the forum to make sure that these local government elections go smoothly. “As a forum it will be our duty to sensitize everyone to vote, but also vote safely while following all these guidelines put in place and put efforts in urging the youth and women to post as candidates.” she said.
