Elections for People’s Municipal, Provincial Assemblies (APC/APW) will take place on Saturday, according to the method of proportional voting on open list where voters will have to respect the regulatory procedures and health measures related to the voting process.
The proportional voting method adopted during the previous legislative elections allows elector to vote for an electoral roll and to vote for one or more candidates within the same selected roll, by marking (x) next to the name of the list or the names of the candidates from this list for whom he wishes to vote, as each list has a name, number and logo to distinguish it from other lists, as outlined by Article 191 of the law on the electoral system.
According to the same article, the voter cannot, “vote for more than one list, vote for a particular list and then vote for candidates on another list, or vote for candidates from multiple lists, in these cases the ballot paper will be annulled”.
Regarding voting method, the voter shall first prove his / her identity to the members of the polling station, after which he / she shall take an envelope and copies of the voting papers and shall proceed directly to the polling booth to place his / her paper in the envelope without leaving the booth.
The head of the polling station shall then certify that he holds only one envelope and shall then be authorized by the head of the polling station to put the envelope in the box.
It also allows every voter with a disability that prevents him from inserting his paper into the envelope and putting it in the box, to use a resource person, the voter will then place the left index finger print in indelible ink on the list of signatures in front of his or her name and surname in front of the polling station members, and the voter’s card will be stamped with a dew stamp bearing the words “elected (V)” and the date of the election.
In case of impossibility to provide voter’s card, voter has the right to vote if he is registered in the electoral list, provided that a national ID card or any other official document proving his identity.
On the other hand, the right to vote by proxy can be exercised; the National Independent Authority for the Elections has defined the categories concerned by the proxy and the bodies responsible for preparing them.
In order to ensure the safety of both voters and elections’ staffs, a health protocol has been signed and adopted last October between the National Independent Authority for the Election and health ministry that set up the preventive measures for voting process.
One of the most important of these measures is to check the temperature of the voter before entering the polling station and ensure that he is wearing the correct protective mask with the need to respect physical distance between the voters and the supervisors of the electoral process, the provision of disinfectant solutions throughout polling stations, the sterilization of pens used by voters and avoiding touching voters documents by supervisors such as the voter card and identification card.
