Africa-Press – Botswana. The country-wide voter registration exercise which started on Friday is going on without interruptions, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Chief Public Relations Officer, Mr Osupile Maroba has confirmed.
“It started as scheduled and progressed without interruptions,” Mr Maroba said in an interview on Saturday.
The registration exercise was postponed twice before it could begin, with the initial postponement being from October to November last year.
The first postponement as per the IEC explanation was necessitated by its failure to secure election material on time as the company engaged to design and print the material failed to meet the timelines.
The second postponement was to allow the courts to adjudicate in a matter between the IEC and the opposition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), with the latter having applied and granted permission to deploy its clerks at polling stations, something that the commission opposed.
The matter was ultimately settled by the country’s apex court, which ruled that the party did not have the right to deploy registration clerks at polling stations.
However, before the registration could start this year January 05, the IEC issued a statement expressing concern over what it described as allegations that some of its stakeholders were planning to interfere with the registration process despite the court ruling.
By Saturday evening, Mr Maroba said no formal complaint had been lodged with the commission and registration was ongoing country-wide.
The IEC spokesperson said as was the case in previous general registrations, fewer than anticipated applicants turned up to register.
“It is understandable because the registration will be going on for 30 days without break. It is anticipated that numbers will increase as the exercise goes into the next three weeks,” he added.
Mr Maroba noted that when the registration started all polling stations had stationery but there were some challenges of inadequate furniture and late delivery of toilets at some open spaces polling stations in some constituencies.
“All these were addressed shortly through contingency plans, “he said.
Mr Maroba further said the commission continued to devise strategies through various media platforms such as radio, television, print, social media platforms, and public announcements to encourage voter registration.
The IEC spokesperson stated that the commission’s registration clerks were identifiable through branded t-shirts and badges which they were expected to display at all times while on duty.
Notwithstanding the ongoing registration, he said one critical challenge faced by the commission was the last-minute withdrawals by some registration clerks resulting in some polling stations manned by one clerk whilst a replacement was being sorted.
The registration period which began on January 5 is scheduled to end on February 3.
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