Botswana’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has failed to meet its target of registering 1.3 million eligible voters for this year’s general elections, a senior official revealed on Thursday.
Addressing his constituents in Paje village in the central Botswana, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Kgotla Autlwetse expressed concern at the declining numbers of registered voters in the country.
He said that despite the decision by the IEC to extend the registration time a number of times, his constituents and the nation at large have not turned up in large numbers to register for the forthcoming polls set for October.
According to senior elections officer Carthage Modisane, just over 897,000 voters have been registered for the 2019 general elections.
He revealed that at least 143,000 voters registered in the just-ended second supplementary voter registration.
Modisane said most people waited until the last day throughout the registration process.
KO/jn/APA