African Elections Project to Cover Botswana Elections 2009

                                                     Press Release

For immediate release

GABORONE Botswana, October 15 2009 –

African Elections Project To Cover Botswana Elections 2009.

The African Elections Project (AEP) www.africanelections.org/bostwana will be covering Botswana's 10^th general election, taking place on October 16 2009, to elect parliamentary and council representatives.  AEP in conjunction with its partners, Media Institute For Southern Africa (MISA) www.misa.org  held a two-day workshop aimed at equipping journalists with cutting edge Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) skills in elections coverage in Gaborone on 28-29 September 2009.

AEP was established in 2008 to empower journalists to cover elections using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) across the continent. After a successful take-off in Ghana, Cote d' Ivoire, Mozambique, Malawi and Guinea, AEP also launched its Namibia phase of the project in Windhoek on 13th October 2009.

In Southern Africa, AEP is covering Botswana www.africanelections.org/botswana  elections schedule to take place on 16th October 2009, Mozambique's elections www.africanelections.org/mozambique) taking place on 28th October 2009 and Namibia's elections www.africanelections.org/namibia  taking place from 28th to 29th November 2009. The  Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa www.osisa.org is providing funding for these countries coverage.

The role of the media in ensuring free and fair elections is indispensable. All over the world the media is playing this important role of ensuring free and fair elections by working with all stakeholders across board.

The media can strengthen the electoral process by providing independent information through impartial coverage. Three important focal issues come into play: access to information on the political process, ability to undertake investigative journalism and documentation of lessons and experiences from the electioneering process.

The African Elections Project is coordinated by Ghana based  International Institute for ICT Journalism (www.penplusbytes.org) working hand in hand with key partners.

AEP Botswana

Associate Editor

Bay Tsimane