07/02/2024
SOME VOTERS IN BOTSWANA ARE AWAITING SUPPLEMENTARY REGISTRATION
8% of respondents to the ongoing BW2024X Publix Engagement Analysis did not register in the just ended exercise. This was said by the Managing Director of Seedpod Capital Itumeleng Lebogang B. adding that the respondents say they are awaiting supplementary voter registration. This update comes in the wake of unprecedented controversy surrounding the 2024 Botswana general elections.
In November 2023 the opposition coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) took the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to court for refusing the party to deploy its agents to observe the registration process. The coalition party has been accusing the IEC of vote rigging, malafide and sabotage since it lost the 2019 general elections to the ruling Botswana Democratic Party. It took the IEC to court but could not proceed on a point of law.
Last November's case, which UDC lost, had many twists and turns that have left an ugly dent on the country's judiciary. In protest of the state of the judiciary, the Law Society of Botswana (LSB) boycotted the opening of the 2024 legal year and convened a parallel event.
Itumeleng says BW2024X intends to capture the changing dynamics of the election landscape leading to October. She says this is important as this is Botswana’s first general election post the infamous Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.
To add your voice to the BW2024X survey simply follow this link: https://forms.office.com/r/fugqsgVFYb
OSADJ - Data Journalism Development Programme