Confidence shot up after the party held its primary elections over the weekend and multitudes turned up to cast their votes. As expected, Serowe constituencies proved to have more BPF members than any other area as they came in large numbers and voting went on into the late night while counting would continue into late Sunday in Serowe West and Serowe South constituencies. As early as 6am, voters across the three constituencies that are made up of Serowe and neighbouring villages saw multitudes queueing to elect their preferred councillors and legislators.
Despite the delay in starting to vote, BPF members calmly waited for polling stations to open and stayed for hours in long queues which led to some polling stations opening beyond midnight. In an interview with this publication following the elections, Segaetsho Garekwe who was the Principal Returning Officer for all three constituencies said despite some challenges, the elections went well and they are confident they will retain all three constituencies and get more. "We had delays in the beginning and started late because we could not have our documents ready on time.
We had to outsource after our machine broke and after we managed all went well despite going late into the night," he said. Garekwe added some people said they don't accept results, especially council candidates. He said they await such people to formally put their complaints in writing. Garekwe said this emanated mainly from the fact that some people weren't appearing on the voters' rolls. He said they also encountered problems in Motetshwane ward and in Serowe North where there were protests over council results. He said in Malatswae in Serowe West, counting couldn't take place immediately after voting at the venue as people came in large numbers at night and disrupted the process.
However, Segaetsho is confident that the turnout will translate into BPF winning all three parliamentary seats and the 24 council seats across the three constituencies. "Our voters' rolls have good numbers. For example, our wards would have as many as 3,000 people. This is a good number that gives confidence that we can beat the half mark. And if we beat that with just membership, you know you are sailing through. We are happy, especially in Serowe, we exceeded the half mark in all the wards and we are happy about that. We will win all Serowe and 80% of Bagammangwato," he said. Segaetsho said they are also hopeful to do well in Kweneng areas where their numbers are growing.
The BPF's only competitor in the area is the ruling Botswana Democratic Party which mostly had members standing unopposed. The Umbrella for Democratic Change whom the BPF joined and bolted from before the elections has pledged support for the BPF in the area.
