[ 2016-11-20 ]

EC outlines duties for security officers on election day
The Electoral Commission (EC) has outlined the
task for security officers to perform on December
1, for the Special Voting and December 7 for the
nationwide polls.

“On Election Day, security officers are to
provide security cover for movement of election
officials and materials,” the EC has stated in
Guide to Voters,” manual.

The publication of the manual was captured under
the “GNA Tracks Election 2016 Project”, funded
by GOIL, the foremost indigenous oil marketing
company.

“At least a security person is required to
maintain order at a polling station and work under
the directives of the presiding officer who is the
ultimate authority at the polling station.

“It is the duty of the security officers to
escort election materials to the polling stations,
maintain law and order during polling, counting
and escort results and other electrical materials
to the collation centre," the Commission stated.

The Commission added "the security officer is also
required to ensure that all election materials are
safe and secure. To this end, they must escort or
guard the materials, where necessary.”

According to the EC, it is also the responsibility
of the security officer to maintain law and order
at a collation centre.

The security officers are also mandated to ensure
that the queue of voters is orderly, take all
necessary measures to prevent violence or any
activity that threatens the safe conduct of the
election.

The Security Officer is to carry out lawful
instructions from the presiding officer or
returning officer or a senior officer of the
Electoral Commission in relation to the arrest of
persons who violate the law, stand at the end of
the queue, if any, at 17:00 hours to ensure that
no person enters the queue after close of polls.

The EC explained that it is the responsibility of
security personnel to keep special voting Ballot
Boxes and their contents which are deposited with
them, safe till after the close of voting on
election day.

Security Officers are also to ensure that
candidates, political party members, observers and
voters in general, have the right to equal
security with respect to lives and property.

The Commission warned security personnel not to
take part in the actual administration of the
elections.

“Security Officers are forbidden from checking
the ID cards of the voters, take part in the
counting of the votes, harass or intimidate any
candidate or voters, assist any person to vote or
tell any voter who to vote for and do anything
that would suggest that they favour a particular
party or candidate,” the EC stated.

The GNA Tracks Election 2016 project seeks to
sensitise the electorate on the various issues
raised by political parties, the elections
management body and other governance
institutions.

It aims at ensuring gender and social inclusion in
national politics and to provide a voice for the
youth, vulnerable groups, opinion leaders and the
broader spectrum of the society, and to contribute
to the achievement of peaceful polls.

Another objective of the project is to create a
platform to dissect the manifestoes of all
political parties and provide in-depth analysis of
each thematic area to the electorate to enable
them to make an informed judgment.

Source - Joyfm

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