WOMEN topped the list of the most assisted voters during the just ended by-elections after 69,4% were assisted against 30,6% males, an Election Resource Centre (ERC) report has revealed.
“ERC observers noted instances of high numbers of people being assisted to vote. ... Continuing with the trend identified during the August 23 harmonised elections, preliminary indications show that women comprised a majority of the assisted votes as 69,4% of assisted voters were women,” the ERC report indicated.
“While on average 69,4% of assisted votes were (cast) by women voters, ERC noted one outlier polling station, Kenmaur Tent (Lupane East Constituency) where only 4,8% of the assisted votes were cast by women voters with male assisted voters comprising 95,2%.”
The electoral watchdog further said while it was cognisant that the law only provide for voters who are illiterate and physically handicapped as assisted voters, the main reasons cited for assistance included illiteracy (35%), elderly (51%) and people with disabilities (14%).
“From the polling stations deployed, ERC observed that a total of 43 PWDs cast (an average of five PWDs per constituency) their ballots during polling representing 1,5% of the total votes cast,” the organisation said.
ERC called on the government and political parties to continue respecting the electorate by allowing them to confer legitimacy to leaders they want to govern the nation.
“The ERC calls on the commission to ensure absolute inclusivity of processes by undertaking to make all polling locations accessible and provide for special voting methods for PWDs including extending postal voting to this vulnerable group,” ERC said.
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