05 May 2024

A total of 188 voters have been disqualified from voting in the upcoming October general elections due to duplicate registration in Francistown’s three constituencies while four were rejected for other reasons.

Francistown-based Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Principal Elections Officer, Ms Itumeleng Gabaake said during a Party Liaison Committee (PLC) meeting recently that the recent voter registration exercises in

Francistown uncovered 188 cases of duplicate registration or people who registered more than once across the three city’s constituencies.

Ms Gabaake said Francistown South registered 53 cases of rejection, Francistown East 28, whilst Francistown West registered 107 of such cases, bringing the number to 188.

She informed the meeting that the 188 people would not be eligible to vote in the upcoming general election, as the IEC strictly enforces a ‘one-person, one-vote’ policy.

“The electoral law states that each individual is only permitted to register once and vote at one polling station,” she said.

Ms Gabaake explained that the duplication was either done across the constituencies/polling district or within the polling district/constituencies.

In addition to the disqualification of 188 voters for duplicate registration, Ms Gabaake also said four voters were rejected due to other reasons in Francistown East and West.

She explained that the additional rejections stemmed from instances of ineligibility of voters such as one individual from Francistown East who was underage and three from Francistown West on account of non-existent national identity cards.

Ms Gabaake said she hoped that the situation would improve in the upcoming second supplementary voter registration scheduled for May 20 to May 31.

She appealed to those who would be registering in the second supplementary voter registration not to repeat the same mistakes because it disadvantaged them from exercising their constitutional rights to choose their preferred government.

Ms Gabaake also informed the meeting that the general voter registration conducted from January 5 to February 3 was successful, given the fact that 26 212 Batswana registered in Francistown.

She said from this figure, 7 266 registered in the Francistown East constituency, 8 926 in the Francistown South constituency, and 10 020 in the Francistown West constituency.

On a similar note, Ms Gabaake said the first supplementary voter registration, which was carried from February 26 to March 15, managed to register 3 214 people in Francistown. Francistown East registered 1 397, Francistown South 811 and Francistown West managed 1 006 people.

This brings the total number of people who have already registered in Francistown East constituency to 8 663 while 9 737 is for  Francistown South constituency, and Francistown West has the highest number of 11 026.

She explained that though the general voter registration was a success, there were challenges such as the exercise being carried out when schools were opened, which contributed immensely to the shortage of working space and furniture.

Another challenge was the non-favourable weather conditions, which to some extent led to some polling stations flooding, though temporarily.

However, she said the general voter registration offered some opportunities of employment creation and that a total of 303 personnel was engaged in different capacities.

Ms Gabaake said 98 non-civil servants were engaged as registration clerks and 66 civil servants served as such.

She informed the meeting that preparations for the second supplementary voter registration exercise, which was scheduled for this month were on the right track.

All the stakeholders have been notified of the exercise and clearing of polling stations has commenced.

She said submissions of clerks’ names for gazetting would be done soon.

Recruitment for other personnel such a temporary tent caretakers would be conducted at customary courts.

“An exercise of this nature also brings opportunity for local business empowerment since private companies are roped in to provide services such as portable toilets. ENDS