LESS than half of Botswana’s 900000 voters have registered for upcoming general elections, confirming fears of widespread voter apathy. The secretary of the country’s electoral commission, Gabriel Seeletso says that, while officials are still counting, he expects the final registration figure to be no higher than 430000. In South Africa, where there are 40000 Batswana of voting age, less than 2000 people have registered. Botswana, which has a population of about 1,5-million people, is expected to go to the polls in October. Registration came to an end at the weekend after the electoral commission held a third, month-long registration drive in an attempt to bring more people onto the voters’ roll.