13 May 2017

Thirty-five polling stations opened doors at 6:30am this morning for the electorate to cast their vote for their preferred representative in the Tlokweng constituency.

The bye-election follows the demise of the Ms Same Bathobakae in November last year.

Returning officer Mr Richard Boitshwarelo said everything was under control, polling stations opened on time and there were no hiccups.

The constituency covers a wide range of areas including but not limited to Tlokweng, Ruretse, Kgale Farms and Notwane.

Many polling stations within Tlokweng Village have not experienced long queues and Mr Boitshwarelo explained that voters were trickling in.

Tlokweng Junior School is the biggest polling station in the constituency with over a 900 voters but there are no queues.

The candidates are Ms Shirley Segokgo, an independent candidate who cast her vote at Batlokwa National Primary School, Mr Elijah Katse of Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) who cast his vote at Tlokweng Junior school  and Mr Kenneth Segokgo of Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) who cast his vote at Luxury Inn.

During the previous general election, a total of 11 525 people voted against a total of 13 980 who had registered to vote in the constituency.

The UDC had assigned Ms Bathobakae who won with 6 442, followed by BDP’s Mr Olebile Gaborone with 38 67 voters and Botswana Congress Party’s Mr Phaladi Zachariah with 1 195 voters. BOPA