24 Oct 2014

Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Otsile Maroba, says despite some logistical challenges, the 2014 general elections are going on well so far.

Addressing the media in Gaborone, Mr Maroba said most polling stations opened on time (6:30am) while a few opened late due to organisational challenges.

He revealed that challenges included provision of voters roll for each constituency on time, and disruption from the storm the day before.

He said the storm blew away tents but the situation was back to normal.   Mr Maroba added that generally voting was going on smoothly countrywide and they hoped to speed up the process.

“Our intention is not to keep voters at polling stations for long, so we intend to fast track the voting process to ensure that people are able to return to their normal day to day tasks,” he said.

Meanwhile, BOPA reporters have noted a number of problems in some polling stations in Gaborone. At Morula polling district in the Bonnington South Constituency, some voters complained about being tossed around as their names did not appearing in the voters’ roll.

At Bonnington North Constituency’s Tlogatloga polling district casting of votes is going on well so far and some SADC observers witnessed the process when voting started in the morning.

At Meriting ward in Ghanzi 80 of the 226 voters had already voted by 9:30am. Voting only started mid-morning since there were no voters when polling stations opened. At Kuke some elders brought with them wrong identity cards. ENDS