The Executive Committee Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission says one of the causes of poor voter turnout and a lack of public trust during elections in SADC member states is the toxicity on social media.

Priscilla Chigumba highlighted this at the 24th Annual General Meeting of the Electoral Commission Forum of SADC countries at Swakopmund.

Chigumba says toxic comments on elections on various social media platforms also destroy public trust between the citizens and their government.

"What we are hoping to see is to assist each other to see how, as Election Management Bodies (EMB), we can regain the public's trust in our institutions, which is the election management bodies. If you have observed the elections anywhere in the SADC region for the last five years, you would have realised that there is a low voter turnout in a lot of elections, and this low voter turnout is attributed to a lack of public trust."

Also speaking at the event was Namibia's Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Uutoni. He says the key principles that underpin public trust and electoral integrity are, consequently, ethical behavior, fairness and impartiality, transparency and accountability.

"Worth noting, electoral integrity also thrives on the professionalism and independence of the EMBs, the rule of law and electoral justice, the establishment of institutions and norms of multiparty competition, the removal of barriers to universal and equal participation, and the regulation of political finance."

The President and Chairperson of Botswana's Independent Electoral Commission and the Electoral Commission of Namibia spoke about the important role the Forum plays.

"As  you can see these are experienced organizations or commissions of SADC countries that found it necessary to come together to peer review themselves to assist each other by peer reviewing each commission so that each commission can learn and manage the elections efficiently," said Barnabas Nymadzabo, Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission of Botswana

"One of the challenges is that there is a need to strengthen relationships with our various stakeholders, whether it's political parties, civil society organizations, government or international originations, because all these categories that I have mentioned also contribute to democracy," added Elsie Nghikembua, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Namibia.

The theme of this year's conference is 'Stakeholder Engagement and Accountability to promote public trust in electoral processes in the SADC region'.