Conduct of the Elections

The overall authority for the conduct of the elections is vested in the Commissioner General of Elections under the Parliamentary Elections Act as amended, and is now vested in the Election Commission in terms of the 17 th Amendment to the Constitution. This amendment introduced a set of new provisions to the Constitution described as Chapter XIV A. Article 103 (1) of this Chapter provides that there shall be an Election Commission consisting of five members appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. The President is also empowered to nominate one such member as the Chairman of the Commission, also on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. The Commissioner General of Elections continues to exercise the powers and functions vested in the Election Commission in terms of an interim provision contained in section 27 (2) of the 17 th Amendment to the Constitution.

The conduct of the election in respect of each electoral district is entrusted to a person designated as the "Returning Officer" who, in turn appoints a Presiding Officer to be in charge of each polling station within his electoral district (Section 28).

The counting of votes and the declaration of results is contained in Part IV of the Parliamentary Elections Act. A Returning Officer of the district is in charge of the count within such a district and is empowered to appoint a counting officer to be in charge of each counting centre (Section 49). The Returning Officer declares the result in terms of section 60 of the Act.