Over 1 million voters eligible to vote in Botswana’s 2024 elections: official

GABORONE, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) — The Independent Electoral Commission of Botswana (IEC) on Wednesday announced that more than a million voters are eligible to cast their votes in the 2024 general elections expected to be held in October.
Addressing representatives of different political parties in Francistown, Botswana’s second-largest city, IEC Secretary Jefferson Siamisang said the commission is now at a critical stage of the electoral cycle.
He said the southern African country’s electoral body is also working round the clock to put in place all measures required to conduct a transparent, fair, and credible election process.
“A total of 1,037,684 eligible voters had registered to vote, which was 80 percent of the 1.3 million target set against the county’s 1.7 million voting population,” said Siamisang.
He said 2,520 registrations were rejected for various reasons ranging from age eligibility to national identity card-related matters.
Botswana’s general elections are shaping up to be the most competitive in the country’s history, where the ruling Botswana Democratic Party is likely to compete with the Umbrella for Democratic Change and Botswana Congress Party.
Botswana is set to have its general elections by October, where the president is indirectly elected by the National Assembly. ■