Africa-Press – Botswana. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of Botswana on Friday kicked off the voter registration process, which will conclude on Feb. 3 in preparation for the general elections later this year.
Around 2,880 polling stations across the country and 48 polling stations in foreign countries opened at 8:00 a.m. local time and will close at 6 p.m. Batswana citizens aged 18 years and above with a valid identity card are eligible to register.
Mokgweetsi Masisi, president of Botswana, encouraged Batswana citizens to register in large numbers, urging the people to register peacefully in a message shared over social media on Friday.
The registration of voters was postponed twice in November this year after Botswana’s main opposition — the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) — took the IEC to court seeking to be allowed to deploy registration observers across the country.
However, Botswana’s Court of Appeal overturned the verdict, arguing that the deployment of observers is not mandated by the country’s electoral act.
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