18 Sep 2018

The national voter registration began early this month in all the 2 260 polling stations countrywide.

Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chief public relations officer, Mr Osupile Maroba said in an interview that registration would end on November 11 throughout the country.

He said the IEC was hopeful for a good turnout of people who were eligible to vote and that 1.6 million were expected to register for the upcoming 2019 general elections.

He said registration since day one had been smooth, adding that in the first week 138 000 people managed to register.

“Should the turnout be of the same impetus every week, we are hoping to reach at least one million people in the 10 weeks set for registration,” he said. 

He said as compared to the previous registrations, the numbers for the first week were substantial and promising.

Mr Maroba noted that there were challenges of boundaries in towns where voters were confused about the demarcation of their borders and registered at polling stations convenient to them.

He implored voters to enquire at the nearest polling station about where they should register, saying it was determined by their principal residence.

Mr Maroba also noted that they had received complaints from politicians about a form that the IEC has introduced for registering people’s names and their phone numbers.

He allayed fears that the form had any bad motive, saying it was meant for contingencies in case the registration was not rightly captured.

“We want to be able to reach voters through their provided contacts numbers should we find any error with regards to their registration,” he said. 

Mr Maroba said they have captured irregularities of wrong registration of some people who were not registering at their principal residences. He added that it was unlawful and punishable by six months imprisonment.

He said voters who had just turned 18 were being misled by politicians to register at polling stations which favoured the latter,   warning that it was also illegal.

He said only those Batswana with valid identity cards (Omang) would be allowed to register. Mr Maroba also noted that registration venues opened on weekdays and weekends.

During weekdays, he said polling stations opened from 8am to 6pm while on weekends they opened from 9am-4pm including lunch time. He said all eligible Batswana were expected to register in polling stations within the polling district they originate from.

As for Batswana living aboard, polling stations open during working hours at the 36 polling stations. Mr Maroba also said arrangements had been made for those Batswana living abroad where there were no missions, and that registration times were 9am-12noon and from 2pm to 5pm. BOPA