Africa-Press – Botswana. Kgatleng District Council wards have increased from 23 to 28 following the completion of the demarcation exercise.
The Independent Electoral Commission secretary, Mr Jefferson Siamisang said this when briefing the Kgatleng District Councillors in Mochudi on Tuesday.
Mr Siamisang said the wards had increased following the increased number of Kgatleng constituencies from two to three. He however called upon councillors and members of the public to familiarise themselves with the new boundaries. In addition, he said, the Kgatleng polling stations across the three constituencies would be about 119, while across the country polling stations had been increased from 2 200 to 2 800.
Mr Siamisang said the general voter registration exercise would start on October 4 to October 31, thereafter data would be captured in the election management system according to constituencies.
After the general voters’ registration, he said, inspection of roll would run for 42 days, before the election roll could be certified.
Determination of supplementary exercise would be informed by the turn up of registered voters and following that the Electoral Act provides that it be inspected in 21 days.
Eligible voters are 18 years old and above, and about 1.7 million Batswana are expected to register for 2024 elections, he said.
Registration requires that one presents a valid Omang or national identity card and should register at their principal residence.
Principal residence might be moraka, masimo or the home village where one resides, he said.
Councillors were informed that this year, the commission would engage young people and pair them with experienced retired people for the registration exercise, in order to minimise mistakes and some irregularities that were experienced in 2018, and each constituency would have two supervisors.
“We are hiring young people preferably Diploma holders and seasoned people to avert mistakes with the aim to produce a credible voters’ roll that will ensure general elections are credible.” he said.
Therefore, Mr Siamisang implored politicians and the public at large to play their part in ensuring that the registration process was smooth because the election process was fundamental to building or destroying the country.
“The registration process is the fundamental part of the democratic principles and in view of that the process should go accordingly,” he said.
Another notable development, he said was that the use of cellular phones would not be allowed in the voting booths and that a tray for securing such devices would be availed at polling stations.
Meanwhile, councillors suggested that Form 5 school leavers be engaged, adding that it was unnecessary to engage retired people when many young people were roaming streets.
Some councillors were of the view that voter education was still lacking, while some complained that in the previous elections, some gross mistakes were caused by inexperienced voting personnel, while some argued that boundaries in Kgatleng still needed be re-arranged.
Kgatleng District Commissioner, Ms Kolobetso Sejakgomo expressed gratitude that the demarcation process was consultative and engaging as the Village Development Committee members, Dikgosi, surveyors and party representatives were cooperative throughout the process.
“The process to me has been conducted smoothly and what we produced was what was proposed by the members,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mr Siamisang stated that where possible, the commission secretary was empowered by the law to amend the demarcation of boundaries and that a corrigendum could be issued for that.
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