Africa-Press – Botswana. Voter registration for the 2024 general elections will start from October 4-31.
Thus announced the Independent Electorate Commission (IEC) secretary, Ms Jefferson Siamisang during a recent virtual meeting to update the North West District Council on the outcomes of the just-ended demarcation exercise.
Mr Siamisang told the meeting that IEC had put measures in place to ensure improvement in the management of the next general elections.
He said the electoral commission was inundated with high number of mistakes and complaints in the last general elections and therefore was striving to ensure smooth implementation of the exercise next year.
“This year, we will engage retired officers who are not active in politics to join IEC officers in supervision of the voter registration exercise, which would take place in October and we appeal to political leaders to get prepared for the exercise.
We also encourage people to register for general elections in large numbers,” Mr Siamisang said.
In addition, he said they would engage young people and pair them with public officers to help during the registration exercise with a view to reduce some irregularities that were experienced in 2018, where some people had voter cards, but their names did not appear on the voters roll.
“This time we want to have a credible voters roll which will satisfy all and ensure general elections are regarded as free and fair because elections make a fundamental contribution to democratic governance,” he added.
The voters roll, he said, was key in general elections as it gathered important voter data, hence they wanted to ensure it was well completed and accurate to minimise complaints and mistakes.
He added that the voters roll revealed all eligible voters and included important information about voting rights and whether the voter was registered or not.
On the demarcation report, Mr Siamisang informed the council that the region had seen an addition of two council wards and more polling stations because of the upgrade of some sub-districts to fully-fledged districts and an additional constituency.
“The demarcation report would not satisfy all, but we thank the demarcation committee for a job well done,” he said and thus implored councillors to familiarise themselves with the new boundaries of polling districts as well as the location of the new polling stations.
He indicated that there was a slight chance in case they wanted to reduce polling stations or add more, citing that initially, they had over 2 200 polling stations across the country and they had currently seen an increase to over 2 800.
As such, Mr Siamisang said as the election body, they would need more personnel and resources in the 2024 general elections to ensure a smooth exercise.
He also noted that voter trafficking from one polling station to another remained a serious concern and warned those involved to desist from such behaviour, saying it was not only undemocratic, but also an offence which carried a fine.
He further said IEC had increased the fines for such an offence from P4 000 to P7 500, noting that the fine affected both traffickers and those who agreed to be trafficked.
He appealed to the public to keep their cards safely after registration, noting that they had learnt that some candidates had the tendency to collect and keep voters’ registration cards, something he said was against the law.
After the presentation, some councillors welcomed the demarcation report, saying the committee had undeniably taken the community’s input into consideration.
However, some expressed disappointment that it had expanded their wards, but failed to increase polling stations.
Councillor for Kgosing/Kubung, Mr Tswelelo Sebati and Moeti councillor, Ms Botshelobokae Ramasu commended the committee, saying the demarcation exercise was not easy, but they managed to conduct it well.
However, councillor for Matlapana, Mr Baikgodisi Kobamelo and Mr Kaukapita Kaukapita of Sedie ward complained that the committee had failed to do what the communities desired.
They said they were long told that their region would be allocated two wards before the demarcation committee was appointed.
“Our wards have been expanded despite the high population exceeding the stipulated quota.
People are not happy with the report because it seems IEC conducted the exercise without projection.
We cannot have two wards in Maun considering the increase in population as per the National Population Census report,” said Cllr Kaukapita.
Some councillors also expressed concern about voter apathy and urged IEC to embark on public education campaigns to address the issue.
For More News And Analysis About Botswana Follow Africa-Press
