26 Sep 2018

Electoral Commission (IEC) office in Francistown has recorded a low number of voters across all constituencies in the ongoing voter registration.

Addressing the faith sector leadership in Francistown on September 25, principal elections officer, Mr Nyanga Nyanga, said in the first week of registration a total of 4 388 voters had registered in Francistown whereas in the second week they recorded 2 882.

Mr Nyanga further noted that 1 732 voters registered in the third week, indicating that there were days when some polling stations did not register any voters.

He further explained that because various church leaders were respected, influential and had knowledge of their communities and members, it made them key stakeholders whose participation was critical because of their wisdom and leadership qualities.

“A positive relationship contributes to creating an election environment conducive to a favorable election process,” he added.

Mr Nyanga also stated that cases of voter trafficking had been recorded as well as prospective candidates trying to coerce registration clerks to give out disability forms and register outside designated places and times.

In response to Mr Nyanga’s presentation, Pastor Brown Tsholofelo of Praise House Church said measures should be taken to address alleged voter trafficking.

For his part, Bishop Otsile Molefhe of St Faith Holy Church stated that the declining voter registration might be due to the fact that there would be supplementary voter registration hence Batswana dragging their feet during the current registration period.

Bishop Molefhe also suggested that IEC should resort to having their voter registration activity prior to all political parties primary elections.

He indicated that a lot of voters might be lost during primary elections when their preferred candidates lose.

Responding to Pastor Tsholofelo’s question, Mr Nyanga explained that IEC had increased the number of registration supervisors to three per constituency compared to the past when it was one registration supervisor per constituency.

He further emphasized that the voter contact form was proving to be helpful since officials could easily contact voters to address issues adding that IEC had also resorted to hosting sensitization gatherings to inform different stakeholders of what was right and wrong.

Chief elections officer in the Francistown district, Mr Lebonetse Maifala, responded to Bishop Molefhe’s suggestion by indicating that the IEC had no control on when  political parties should hold their primary elections. ENDS