Polling stations in diamond-rich Botswana were mobbed today for the country's general elections in which the opposition is hoping to shrink the ruling Botswana Democratic Party's (BDP) 43-year hold on power, dpa reported. The Independent Electoral Commission was it was hoping for a "very huge turnout" as long queues formed at polling stations across the vast desert nation for 13 hours of voting beginning at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT). IEC spokesman Osupile Maroba told the German Press Agency dpa he expected voting to continue past the scheduled close of polls at 7 pm in areas where voting had been slow. Apart from the slow pace, "everything is going according to plan," he said. The opposition Botswana Congress Party also praised the voting process as smooth. Some 725,000 people out of some 1.8 million in a country which is about the size of Texas are eligible to vote for 57 members of the National Assembly. Around 2,000 Batswana living overseas already voted on October 3. The results are expected over the weekend. The BDP of President Ian Khama, which has governed the country since independence from Britain in 1966, is expected to easily win re-election.
