Saving the Electoral Commission from ourselves

Elections are at the heart of democracy. No society can lay claim to being a democratic society without according its members the right to freely elect those who manage its public affairs. At the risk of oversimplification, it is not too far from the truth to say that those who manage elections manage democracy; they are, in a manner of speaking, the guardians of democracy. The managers must therefore have a clear understanding of the goals, ends or objectives that society intends to reach through the democratic process. Broadly, and for any society, these include choosing leaders through free, fair and transparent elections.

As a society, our democratic experiment has come a long way under the Fourth Republican Constitution and competent management of the electoral process has been an essential part of the success story. We are certainly nowhere near the ideal state in the management of our elections as we grapple with issues as basic as over-voting, ballot stuffing and sna

Elections are at the heart of democracy. No society can lay claim to being a democratic society without according its members the right to freely elect those who manage its public affairs. At the risk of oversimplification, it is not too far from the truth to say that those who manage elections manage democracy; they are, in a manner of speaking, the guardians of democracy. The managers must therefore have a clear understanding of the goals, ends or objectives that society intends to reach through the democratic process. Broadly, and for any society, these include choosing leaders through free, fair and transparent elections.

As a society, our democratic experiment has come a long way under the Fourth Republican Constitution and competent management of the electoral process has been an essential part of the success story. We are certainly nowhere near the ideal state in the management of our elections as we grapple with issues as basic as over-voting, ballot stuffing and snatching and the grave looming threat of hacking into electronic electoral systems for purposes of influencing outcomes. However, to get to the ideal state we need managers of elections who possess integrity and competence and are committed to the ends, goals or objectives collective action of our democratic process.

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