Resource Centre introduces election exercise

Yei Community Resource Centre has had a busy beginning of 2009 so far and as a new activity, the centre offers election exercises.

By Eric J. Moses, programme manager at Yei Community Resource Centre

21. May 2009

The management of Yei Community Resource Centre had many achievements in the first quarter of 2009. So far, the centre has conducted three community dialogues to create awareness on elections, inform the business community on their role in good governance and increase awareness about the rights of disabled people.

In addition, the centre management has conducted three inter-secondary school debates. The debates were aimed at informing students and teachers on the coming elections, democratic principles and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. In the debates, the schools argue against each other so that one school is asked to argue in favour of a statement and the other against. After the debate, facilitation on the topic is done by the centre staff.

Almost like a real election

One of the topics discussed at the inter-school debates was ‘it is against the law for a candidate to offer you gifts or money in return for your vote’. Participants were asked to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of bribery. After they had exchanged their points of view, a centre staff gave facilitation on the topic campaigning. Later, two candidates – the lady from afar and the son of the soil – were nominated and campaigned while the voters were encouraged to acquire identity cards from the chiefs and get registered for the election. After the campaigns, a voting exercise followed and the lady from afar won the elections because her campaign was based on facts unlike the son of the soil whose campaign was characterised by statements about gifts and money. The elections were free and fair as there was no intimidation of the voters and they were all let to vote for the one they wanted. Each vote was counted equally and they were completely secret.

The election exercise is good because it gives people a chance to feel what a democratic election is – for most people this is the first time to see a polling booth and ballot box. It gives the participants a better understanding of how elections are conducted and they understand that it is a manageable task. That is why we at Yei Community Resource Centre will continue to do this exercise and why we encourage other organisations to do the same.

 

For more information on how to do the election exercise, contact Eric J. Moses on ericjuliet2004@yahoo.co.uk.