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IEC reaches its target of 80% voter registration

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday July 8, 2024 06:00

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has set a historic record by registering over 80 percent of Batswana who are eligible to vote for the upcoming General Election. This announcement was made by IEC Secretary, Jefferson Siamisang during a briefing at the all-party conference held yesterday at Phakalane Golf Estate. Total number of people registered is 103 7684 while the total budget allocation is P208 million to run elections.
 
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has set a historic record by registering over 80 percent of Batswana who are eligible to vote for the upcoming General Election. This announcement was made by IEC Secretary, Jefferson Siamisang during a briefing at the all-party conference held yesterday at Phakalane Golf Estate. Total number of people registered is 103 7684 while the total budget allocation is P208 million to run elections.

Siamisang stated that preparations for the general elections are progressing well despite a few challenges, which they have managed to overcome. 'We will conduct elections in all 61 constituencies for MP seats. The number of council seats has increased from 490 to 609. In the 2019 general elections, there were 2,258 voting areas, but now there are 2,880. Additionally, the number of voting areas outside Botswana has risen from 34 to 54,' Siamisang said.

When updating the members, he stated that 2,520 registrations were rejected by the system because they had registered in different areas, which is not allowed. He also stated that another 209 people were rejected because they did not meet the required age of 18 years and above, as mandated by law.

Additionally, 19 registrations were rejected because their Omang (identification) cards had expired or were invalid. Furthermore, 10 registrations were rejected because their names and Omang ID numbers did not match during verification. Siamisang explained that the ID number should verify that the name indeed belongs to the individual, which can be better explained by the voter. Furthermore, he added, 'The IEC would not know why a voter has that kind of Omang.'

The IEC secretary reported that they had recorded 189 objection cases, some of which were before various magistrate courts. In the Kgalagadi South constituency, there were 17 objections, all of which were withdrawn by the complainant due to lack of evidence. In the Mahalapye West constituency, there were 12 objections, with three dismissed and nine withdrawn.

In Palapye, there were 40 objections, and in Francistown West, there was one objection that was not successful. In the Nata/Gweta constituency, there were 22 objections: 11 were approved, four were dismissed, and seven will be heard by the court on July 22.

He also revealed that the Selibe-Phikwe West constituency had the highest number of objection cases, totaling 58. Of these, 23 were agreed upon, four were dismissed, 29 were withdrawn, and two are awaiting judgment. In Boteti West recorded 12 objections but the cases have not yet been heard.

Meanwhile, on the issue of Marobela village case which IEC registration books got stolen, Siamisang said they managed to trace 42 to come and re-register but have failed to find the other six. When commenting on his presentation, Oral Mosedame of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) said the registration numbers of people who want to vote do not tally and wanted to know what could be the cause. Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) representation Dr Patrick Mmolutsi said; “it is time IEC work on trust issues so that we could have hope on it. Why are we still registering manually when we see that it is causing problems to us?” However, Siamisang said numbers differ at some point because they used to release them before verification was done and when captured into the system then proper numbers do come out. He also agreed that manual registration do contribute to delays and errors when capturing data.