Africa-Press – Botswana. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) will on Monday start a supplementary voter registration exercise in all of the country’s 61 constituencies.
The supplementary registration, according to government gazette published this month, will run from May 20 until May 31.
It further says all polling stations will open at 8am until 6pm on weekdays, while on weekends, polling stations will open from 8am until 4pm..
The government gazette further states that all Batswana who attained the age of 18 years and in possession of a valid national identity card and has not previously registered as a voter for the 2024 general elections and not disqualified from registration as a voter can apply in person for registration.
It says the application can be made at a polling station within the polling district where one has a residence, or if one has more than one residence at a polling station within the polling district where such person has a principal residence.
The supplementary voter registration is the second to be held for the upcoming general elections, following the first supplementary voter registration which was conducted between February 26 and March 15.
During the period, a total of 74 550 voter registrations were recorded from the country’s 61 constituencies.
In a previous interview following the publication of the first supplementary voter registration numbers, the IEC Manager for Policy Development and Voter Education, Mr Malefho Gopolang said first registration and the first voter supplementary registration could not yield the expected results.
He said from two registration exercises, the total number of people who registered to vote was about 62 per cent of the Commission’s target of 1.3 million people.
Such, he said necessitated IEC to schedule the second supplementary voter registration, adding that unlike the first supplementary voter registration exercise, the second exercise would be carried out in all polling stations across the 61 constituencies, which comprised 2 080 polling stations as well as the 49 polling stations in the diaspora.
Therefore, he encouraged Batswana who had not registered for the general elections to take advantage of the supplementary registration, as there was no guarantee that there would be another one.
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