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The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is preparing to update the national voters’ roll, which has previously caused “discord in the national electoral process”.
The renewal project will include registration of new voters and re-registration of voters who have already registered using the national identity card.
However, the call has sparked concerns as thousands of Basotho are yet to receive national identity cards.
The situation is now further complicated by the inability of the National Identity and Civil Registration Department under the Ministry of Local Government, Chiefs, Interior and Police to issue identity cards to the Basotho.
Marelebohile Mothibeli, spokesperson for the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy, Interior Affairs and Police, told?Sunday Express?Currently, they are unable to issue identity cards to eligible Basotho people.
She couldn’t even promise when the issue would be resolved.
“The Electoral Commission would like to inform voters, stakeholders and Basotho people that the Electoral Commission is in the process of updating the voter registration database. As such, the Commission requests Basotho people to proceed to their respective offices to re-register,” the Commission said in a statement.
“All eligible voters will be re-registered using the National Identity Card (ID) as per the National Identity Card Act 2011.
“Citizens of Lesotho aged 18 years and above are eligible to register as voters and must provide a national identity card as the only proof of identity.”
The Independent Electoral Commission said voters required to re-register include first-time voters and already registered voters who had used other forms of identification before the introduction of the national identity card.
The Electoral Commission also noted that it was aware of the urgency of producing new identity cards.
As a result, people across the country were told that “expired cards are acceptable in the registration process as voter identification and numbers do not expire”.
Talking?Sunday Express?Recently, IEC Senior Marketing and Communications Manager Tuoe Hants’i said all citizens must go to IEC offices “with only their national identification documents”.
The move is aimed at ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the voter register.
“This move is aimed at ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the electoral register, which is a critical step in the democratic process. The Independent Electoral Commission wants to ensure that the electoral register reflects the current demographics of the country and is free of errors and duplications,” said Mr Hantz.
However, the announcement has raised concerns among citizens, especially those who do not have national IDs.
According to statistics, a considerable number of Basotho people still do not have identity cards.
However, it is crucial for the IEC to create a voter register from scratch as the register was declared flawed in 2011. Despite such declarations, the IEC held the 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2022 elections using the same register.
This led to a series of political attacks and harsh criticism against the Election Commission for the way it handled the electoral process. Some quarters of society even accused the Election Commission of being biased towards certain political parties.
Therefore, Mr. Hantz said that updating the voter registration database should be seen as a step towards ensuring transparency and accountability in the electoral process.
He said that to facilitate the verification process, IEC has set up a dedicated help desk in its office to facilitate citizens to update their information.
Mr Hanzi also assured the Basotho that their personal information would be kept confidential and used only for election purposes.
“We want to assure citizens that their information will be kept safe and secure. We just need to ensure that those who vote in this country are indeed citizens of Lesotho. We can only ensure that by registering using the national identity card,” Mr Hantz said.
“We are committed to protecting their privacy and ensuring their information is used only for election purposes.”
The update of the voter registration database is expected to take several months.
“We are very aware of the current status of ID documents. However, given the estimated time it will take for data to be updated, we hope that once we have completed our survey of existing ID document holders, those who currently do not have ID documents will be able to receive their ID documents,” Mr Hantz said.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Moti Bailey acknowledged the ministry was aware of the lack of identity documents, but she did not say when they would begin being issued.
Ms Motibeli said: “The Ministry of Home Affairs is aware of the concerns of citizens regarding the lack of access to national identity documents. At this time, we are not issuing any new identity documents and cannot provide a timeline for resolving this issue.”
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