Mochudi — The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) commences its voter registration exercise for the 2024 general elections today, and its Secretary, Mr Jefferson Siamisang is appealing to Batswana to register in large numbers.
In an interview on Monday, Mr Siamisang encouraged voters to register at their nearest polling stations, in the exercise that starts today ends November 30.
To register you must be aged 18 years and above, and be in possession of a valid national identity card (Omang), he said, adding there were 2,810 registration centres nationwide and 47 for Batswana outside the country.
"According to the law, general voters' registration is conducted at polling stations and these are the same polling stations that voters will use for voting next year," he said. With regard to Batswana outside the country, he said they would register at the country's diplomatic missions.
The IEC would also facilitate registration for those Batswana residing in places with no Botswana embassies, but having a reasonable number of eligible nationals to warrant a polling station. Mr Siamisang said while previously Batswana in the diaspora could only vote for Members of Parliament, they would now also vote for councillors. He added there would be two registration clerks per polling station in all the registration centres, while abroad, there would be one clerk per polling station.
Mr Siamisang said according to the Department of Civil and National Registration, the eligible voting population was projected at 1.7million by next year.
The IEC's target was to register at least 80 per cent of those eligible voters, he said.
"We are determined to do all in our capacity to register the majority of eligible population," he said. With regard to those who would turn 18 after the closing date, Mr Siamisang said the IEC would consider supplementary registration to cater for them as well as those who would have missed registering during the main exercise.
He appealed to registration clerks to exercise due diligence and remain apolitical during the exercise, that he said should be error-free.
"This is a national engagement that is very delicate and anything that may not go well can lead to grievances and court cases by different political movements. We do not want to be blamed for deliberately disqualifying eligible voters," he said.
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He said registration documents should be kept safe and secure, and only be used at gazetted points all the while there being strict adherence to set times. Registration would be conducted during the week from 8am to 6pm, while on weekends it would be from 8am to 4pm, he said.
Mr Siamisang regretted there would be no registration at home for people with disabilities.
"Clerks should note that currently we do not have proxy voter registration and as such people with disabilities should be assisted to go to polling stations for registration," he said.
He added that the role of the IEC was to ensure that laws governing the election process were followed to the letter and all eligible voters given the opportunity to participate.
Once again, he warned registration clerks to stay neutral: "It is important that registration clerks do not take sides and obey the law".
BOPA
