Mmegi

Over 80% of registered Batswana voted

Maroba 
PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO
Maroba PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has noted that over 80% of Batswana who had registered to vote turned up to the polls.

As of press time on Thursday afternoon, spokesperson for the electoral management body Osupile Maroba said although they had not consolidated the entire numbers across the country, they could confirm that over 80% of voters had cast their votes. The IEC had stated that a total of 1,037,684 Batswana had registered to vote. For Batswana living in the diaspora, a total number of 2,031 had registered but only 1,104 voted, tallying 54%. For early voters, which comprised civil servants who were on duty during the election period, the IEC had expected 1,282 but the number of voters increased to a staggering 16,013. Comparing the voter turnout to 2019, Maroba said their data reveals that in the last General Election, they recorded 75% of voters from those who had registered, marking an increase in this cycle.

“Then, we had 725,000 voters from the 925,000 that had registered. This year, as you know, we had 1,037,684 registered voters and 80% of them have voted,” Maroba confirmed. Meanwhile, the IEC Secretary, Jeff Siamisang said when voting began most polling stations started on time except for a few that had minor delays, but by 8am on October 30, the election process had begun.

The IEC also admitted that the election process is at times slow owing to due diligence being of paramount importance as an election is a sensitive exercise by nature. On counting and verification, Siamisang noted the challenges. “When it came to this process, we experienced delays because some candidates’ representatives would use padlocks as seals and thus stall the process of actually opening the ballot box,” he said.

The IEC, however, commended Batswana and party candidates for a peaceful election process. Siamisang noted that there had been media reports about a blood bath “but in true Setswana style”, they did not experience such. “Yes, there are incidences here and there of major disagreement and scuffles but I am happy to say that they were eventually resolved and the process continued. We would like to thank Batswana for this,” he said.

The IEC further noted that they experienced a higher voter turnout in villages as compared to towns and cities. Efforts to contact election observers proved futile by press time.

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