Sir/Madam,
A couple of years ago, I had a “mini clash” with the Electoral commissioner. I was a voter in a union executive election which had been run by the famous ESC. On that occasion, the commissioner was present, and I asked him: “Ki manière, zot inn amené zot T-square tout?” He was naturally irritated and retorted twice: “Ki, ou aussi ou penser ki nous bann volères?!”
Though I apologized to prevent any further “dérapage”, deep inside me I felt that the message had been driven home.
I will not repeat the list of criticisms which by now the ESC knows by heart. What I want to say is this:
A rule in Mathematics goes thus: if a theorem works in 99 cases but not the 100th time, then the theory is wrong! Stray bulletins and recount figures simply show that the ESC was not infallible in the last elections. And if errors have occurred in some place, there is no guarantee that they did not occur elsewhere!
It is said that the ESC is an “independent institution.” While such a statement is supposed to absolve external parties [or party?] from any responsibility, it is also a double-edge sword, which can only mean that for whatever malfunctions that occurred, it’s only the ESC which is to be blamed!!!
The greatest aberration in our present system is the archaic door-to-door registration of electors, unless it is a deliberate tactic to leave loopholes! It defies all common sense why a Mauritian, holder of a computerized ID card, is not automatically a registered voter, and why a deceased person can still remain on the list! Is this a method to pave the way for Bangladeshi workers and expatriates from Big Brother to vote?
The upcoming general elections will be an occasion for the ESC to make amends and obliterate all circulating rumours, for example: (1) providing indelible ink (2) assuring that no “pre-voted” bulletins will be in ballot boxes (3) no excessive spare bulletins are printed….
Between “free & fair” elections and “rigged” elections, the whole fate of a nation depends…
Ynam Ally
