- Has average of 45% registered voters aged between 18 and 39 years
- Ranked 16th in SADC, is the only country below the 50% mark
- But Botswana had region’s second highest voter turnout in 2019 and 2014
BONGANI MALUNGA
Botswana sits at the bottom of a list compiled by a reputable international think tank that compares the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) percentage of adult population registered to vote in 2024.
The Election Resource Centre of Africa (ERC Africa) complied the report with additional information sourced from Botswana’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
According to ERC Africa, Botswana has an average of 45 percent that accounts for registered voters aged between 18 and 39 years, which is the lowest average of registered adult voters in the southern African region.
Tanzania, Lesotho and Mauritius lead
Botswana is also the only country with an average of adult voters below the 50 percent mark.
The top nation in terms of registered adult voters is Tanzania with an output of 97.9 percent. Tanzania is closely followed by Lesotho with an average of 95 percent. Mauritius (93 percent) rounds up the top three and the only three nations to score a 90 percent or above total in the region.
In their numerical order, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (87.6 percent), Namibia (86.9 percent), Mozambique (85.9 percent) and Angola (82.9 percent) all scored above 80 percent.
Second highest voter turnout
Eswatini (79.1), Zimbabwe (78.3), the Seychelles (75.4), the Comoros (70.7) and Malawi (70.6) all averaged over 70 percent. Madagascar (69.2), Zambia (66.5) and South Africa (63.9) all scored above 60 percent with 16th placed Botswana scoring 45 percent.
However, ERC Africa also notes that Botswana had the second highest voter turnout in SADC during the 2019 general elections. The country had a voter turnout of 84 percent in the last elections, ranking behind only the Seychelles’ 86.72 percent.
According to the report, the constituency with the highest turnout was Kgalagadi North with 90 percent of registered voters actually casting their ballots on election day.
2014 and 2019 the highest in 34 years
The last two elections (2014 and 2019) in Botswana garnered the highest voter turnout in the last 34 years. The 2014 elections had a voter turnout of 85 percent, which was an 8 percent increase on the voter turnout of the 2009 elections (77 percent).
The 1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009 elections all yielded voter turnouts of over 76 percent.
PULL QUOTE: According to the report, the constituency with the highest turnout (in 2019) was Kgalagadi North with 90 percent of registered voters actually casting their ballots on election day.