Botswana’s Governing BDP Wins Tight Election, Biggest Tests Yet To Come

James Kirby, Durham University

The Botswana Democratic Party, which has governed the country since independence in 1966, has retained power in one of the most competitive elections in the country’s 53-year post-independence history. It retained its parliamentary majority, winning at least 29 of the 57 contestable seats in the National Assembly.

Botswana has a first-past-the-post electoral system in which a simple majority is required to win government. The southern African nation has a population of 2,2 million, of whom 900 000 were registered to vote.

The Botswana Democratic Party was uniquely vulnerable in this election. The party faced a surging opposition as well as the fact that it had been weakened by an internal split between former President Ian Khama (66) and the newly-elected President Mokgweetsi Masisi (58).

Khama handed the presidency and party leadership to his then vice president Masisi in April 2018, planning on