"Peaceful and transparent" elections.

A report in today's The Botswana Gazette newspaper caught my eye. It's reported that the African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) preliminary statement has declared the just ended Botswana general elections peaceful and transparent. The report quotes the leader of the mission, former Malawi President Joyce Banda as saying:

"...The mission recommends the counting and posting of results at the polling stations in order to avoid logistical and operational challenges in the transfer of election material and counting of votes".

In a 2012 post entitled "Motion on Direct Presidential Election is a waste of time" in the blog Nkalangaunozwida, I recommended something similar in item number 4:

4. Voting should continue to be by secret ballot, but NO BALLOT BOX should be allowed to move until the election officials, including party representatives, have counted AND publicly announced the votes contained therein.

http://nkalangaunozwida.blogspot.com/2012/03/motion-on-direct-presidential-election.html

'nuff said.